Thursday, March 22, 2012

Reports on the morning after pill

Health Minister Ana Mato, announced this week that the three reports commissioned on the morning after pill, developed by Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (Competent Authority), the Medical College (WTO) and the Spanish Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SEGO) and held by it and are "neither conclusive nor coincidental." These reports, which will build the new policy on this drug have not been made public, not known or the methodology or the evidence on which were based, nor the main conclusions of each.

Health Ministry sources consulted by ELMUNDO.es have noted that these reports are held by the minister and that "not going to publish" at least for now. Nor have they explained the turn of the discrepancies between the three studies and what scientific evidence have been used for processing, which was commissioned by Mato late last January.

In the wake of Health, Juan Jose Rodriguez Sendin, president of the WTO, said during a press conference that they will not make public the results of his report but that in his opinion and that of the organization he chairs, the pill postcoital "must be indicated by a professional, served in a health center and free [...] to ensure that there is reasonable doubt as to their delivery to minors." Phrase that encompasses ideas that the WTO and which presumably has been forwarded to the Executive of Mato.

The WTO position, Rodriguez Sendin said on several occasions, seems representative of the SEGO, which last February issued a joint paper with the Spanish Society of Contraception (SEC) stating that emergency contraception with levonorgestrel is not an abortifacient and that its use "is safe for all women including adolescents."

As the Competent Authority, no data on the document have been developed but, according to Santiago Barambio, gynecologist and president of the Association of Accredited Clinics for Interruption of Pregnancy (ACAI), "it should be based on scientific evidence exist on levonorgestrel, a drug that is well studied for years. "
Free dispensation to prevent pregnancy

"We are not facing a drug-points Barambio unknown. All organizations involved in health hospitalizations say that it is safe and has very little risk. Can produce only mild discomfort, similar to those of pregnancy because, precisely, during pregnancy Women have a lot of progesterone [active ingredient of the emergency pill], more than provided by the drug, "says this expert.

Studies, remember Barambio have already shown that this emergency contraception (not abortion) is safe, also before 18 years. "The children, are from the social point of view, but if they can be mothers, are physiologically women," says the president of ACAI.

"These girls have sex, which are allowed by law in over 13 years, so it is logical to gain free access to all measures to avoid undesirable consequences, such as pregnancy," he continues. "The free dispensation, precisely, is a useful tool to limit this."

Many neighboring countries have adopted the free dispensing the morning after pill as did Spain in September 2009. "Was established because, in light of studies on their safety and because it is a single dose, the risks are few, however, could prevent unwanted pregnancies whose risk increases the weekends which is when the access to health facilities is more limited, especially in small populations. "
In the hands of the Advisory Committee

Nevertheless, Ana Mato has on several occasions its concern about how this drug can affect children, which is why these reports commissioned. However, given the disparity of their results, the Minister has announced that it will convene an Advisory Committee "in the coming days or weeks", according to Health.

This committee, as recorded by the Gazette, consists of a Chairman, appointed by the Minister, and two vocal groups: first, the presidents of the General Councils of Associations of professionals in the sector and other recognized experts who will also be elected by the head of the Health portfolio.

The work of this committee, to analyze these reports, you will leave the final decision on the morning after pill, as Mato assured, "there never obey ideological" because "the subject of drugs, decisions must be taken by the scientific and medical criteria alone. "

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