Sexual Health News Headlines

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Women need to get recommended Pap tests, while girls and young women should be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) to protect them from cervical cancer, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises during Cervical Health Awareness Month.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Porn actors in Los Angeles will have to use condoms on the set as a condition of obtaining a film permit under a first-in-the-nation requirement quietly signed into law by the mayor, and a nearby community was considering a similar rule. Officials in Simi Valley said on Tuesday they were mulling …

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed into law Tuesday an ordinance requiring porn actors to use condoms, a measure welcomed by AIDS campaigners.

Though low-income communities have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the U.S., emergency contraception may be the most difficult to access in those areas, according to a small study conducted by researchers from Boston Medical Center.

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An impoverished young Afghan woman has given birth to sextuplets -- three boys and three girls -- producing the same number of children her countrywomen typically average over a lifetime. Sara Gul, 22, from the northern Balkh province, said on Tuesday she tried to abort after learning …

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Young women on birth control pills tend to have less painful menstrual periods than those not on the contraceptives, a new study finds. Swedish researchers found that of 2,100 women followed from age 19 to 24, those on the combined birth control pill (estrogen and progestin) had less-severe menstrual …

The American Heart Association has released its first scientifically based statement with recommendations for sexual activity for people with heart conditions or cardiovascular disease. The good news for many with heart problems is that sex is safe.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Friday ruled that religiously affiliated nonprofit organizations, including hospitals and universities, will have to offer birth-control coverage to women employees but gave the organizations an extra year to comply. In a decision expected to draw opposition from religious …

High-risk sexual behaviors and drug habits that can increase a person's likelihood of getting HIV/AIDS are on the decline in the United States, according to a government survey released Thursday.

THURSDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Slightly more than half of U.S. teenaged girls who had a child between 2004 and 2008 did not use birth control, and a third didn't think they could get pregnant at the time, a new government study finds.

THURSDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Sexual activity generally isn't hazardous for people with cardiovascular disease, the American Heart Association says in a new statement.

THURSDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- The number of Americans who practice behaviors that put them at risk for HIV infection has declined significantly, federal health officials reported Thursday.

Newly dating and slightly anxious, two men bared their arms for blood tests and pondered the possibility that one of them, or both, could be infected with HIV. An innovative program — called Testing Together — would allow them to hear their test results minutes later, while sitting side by side.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Porn stars in Los Angeles will be legally required to wear condoms during film shoots after the city council voted on Tuesday to mandate their use, despite a threat by skin flick producers to leave town over the requirement. The move comes amid persistent questions about how to enforce the health …

Birth control pills relieve pain associated with menstruation, a 30-year Swedish study confirmed.

Sales of condoms and birth control in Poland shrank by 10 percent and 3.2 percent respectively over a year as of October 2011, the first such drop on record, fresh market surveys showed Tuesday.

Sales of condoms and birth control in Poland shrank by 10 percent and 3.2 percent respectively over a year as of October 2011, the first such drop on record, fresh market surveys showed Tuesday.

The head of a global health fund on Monday urged Ukraine to step up its efforts to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Europe's largest.

FRIDAY, Jan. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Many young American women fail to recognize recent weight gain, and self-perception of weight gain appears to be significantly influenced by race, ethnicity and birth control methods, according to a new study.

Pressured to quit his job after telling his bosses he was HIV-positive, Boris Kovacic shares the plight of thousands in the Balkans who face prejudice because of a stubborn stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd said on Friday it had received an interim order from a U.S. arbitration panel against U.S.-based Napo Pharamaceuticals Inc's termination of a collaboration pact for an HIV-associated diarrhoea drug. The pact, signed in July 2005, had conferred exclusive rights to Glenmark …

THURSDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) -- School-age children exposed to HIV before birth are at increased risk for language problems and could benefit from early diagnosis and classroom intervention, according to a new study.

THURSDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) -- The level of the HIV-1 virus in the blood of an HIV-infected person is the single most important risk factor for sexual transmission of HIV to an uninfected partner, a new study of heterosexual couples has found.