Health related information and news from around the world.

You’ll be advised how to use these when you are fitted. Here are my tips. • When you first get your diaphragm or cap, spend half an hour putting it in, checking its position and taking it out. If you don’t get the knack, go back to your doctor or clinic in case you’re not [...]

For conception to occur we must start with an ovum and semen that contains sperm. The semen must be deposited in the vagina so that sperm may travel through the cervix (neck of the womb), uterus and tube to fertilise the ovum. The fertilised ovum must then be able to pass down the tube to [...]

Sexuality is the subject of more mixed-up beliefs, attitudes and morality than anything else in our lives. Most adults aren’t confident about dealing with it, so no wonder adolescents are confused. Anyone over 40 today will have seed the most dramatic changes in knowledge and attitudes about sex and in sexual behaviour. You may find [...]

At the beginning of puberty the pituitary gland, again in response to chemical messages from the hypothalamus, also begins to produce the hormones called gonado-trophins, which stimulate the gonads to produce sex hormones. Girls’ ovaries produce the hormones oestrogen and progesterone, and boys’ testes produce testosterone. These sex hormones circulate in the blood and affect [...]