Religion, women's health, and obstetrician-gynecologists.

Religions continue to be a strong moral, even political, force in the world. They are often seen to be in conflict with women's health; we argue that this should not continue to be the case. The conflict can be traced back to when religions had their birth and early development in patriarchal communities in which women were marginalized to the edges of society.

Safe abortion: The public health rationale.

It is now more than 50 years since the World Health Assembly recognized abortion as a serious public health problem. The challenge still stands. Addressing the problem of unsafe abortion is a national and global public health imperative, dictated by the magnitude of the problem and its impact on individuals and society, inequity of the burden of disease, and an international consensus of the global health community.

Impact of reproductive evolutionary mismatch on women's health and the need for action and research.

Efforts by the health and scientific community have focused on providing women with the means to control and regulate their fertility. We paid less attention to the reality of women achieving their reproductive revolution while burdened with a reproductive system that evolved to fit the life of our ancestor hunter-gatherers, where women were destined to spend most of their reproductive years pregnant or breastfeeding. This state of evolutionary mismatch impacts on women's health as the reproductive system continues incessantly to work, producing a monthly ovum and exposing the reproductive organs to cyclic hormonal stimulation without the benefit of pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Non-hormonal interruption of incessant ovulation as a potential approach for ovarian cancer prevention.

Ovarian cancer is a silent killer. There is a need to intensify research efforts on prevention strategies. The causative role of incessant ovulation has been supported by the protective effect of oral hormonal contraceptives.

Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy is superior to physical rehabilitation in the management of symptomatic unstable meniscal tears.

Purpose: Meniscus injuries are the most commonly reported in athletes. Meniscectomy is the most common treatment. Stable peripheral tears may heal, while degenerative tears do well with physical therapy.

Reducing the burden of maternal and child morbidity and mortality in the Eastern Mediterranean Region? Yes, we can.

Maternal and child morbidity and mortality are a major public health, development and human rights challenge globally and in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The Region is diverse, with high-, middle- and low- income countries, many suffering from political instability, conflicts and other complex development challenges. Although progress has been made towards Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, it has been uneven both between and within countries.

Cerebrospinal fluid involvement in a case of visceral leishmaniasis associated with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) implies a benign generalized histiocytic proliferate with erythrophagocytosis and it includes familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and secondary hemophgocytosis. Spinal fluid changes like mild to moderate pleocytosis (most of the cells are lymphocytes and macrophages) and sometimes hemophagocytosis are seen in primary HLH but are not reported in secondary HLH. Here we report a case of a previously healthy 10 months old male infant who was diagnosed as familial HLH with evidence of CSF hemophagocytosis.

Sexual and reproductive health for all: a call for action.

At the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, the international community agreed to make reproductive health care universally available no later than 2015. After a 5-year review of progress towards implementation of the Cairo programme of action, that commitment was extended to include sexual, as well as reproductive, health and rights. Although progress has been made towards this commitment, it has fallen a long way short of the original goal.

Human rights aspects of safe motherhood.

Maternal deaths in developing countries are often the ultimate tragic outcome of the cumulative denial of women's human rights. Women are not dying because of untreatable diseases. They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving.