Flickr, subcomandanta
Mother and child, Ethiopia
Researchers at the University of Washington have reported some highly problematic findings regarding a common method of birth control in eastern and southern Africa.
They are problematic in that they indicate a popular injectable hormone, Depo-Provera, used by perhaps 140 million women worldwide (and often in poor settings) signficantly raises a woman’s risk of HIV infection.
But they were also problematic in that the evidence for this alarming claim is somewhat weak and inconclusive, meaning it could be wrong.
That’s science. But the net effect right now could be that women will choose to give up one form of known health protection — contraception — to protect against a still hypothetical threat. Continue reading