The INFO Project Blog

The Population Reports team has been busy, busy, between researching new findings on contraceptive methods, elements of successful family planning programs, and providing an updated guide to the highly effective but underutilized method of vasectomy.

Last covered by the Population Reports series in 1992, vasectomy research has now clarified many questions of eligibility criteria, optimal technique, post surgical follow-up and risk of long-term health concerns.

The topic came to light today in a blog post on the Elements of Family Planning Success Web site. Yogeeta Manglani, an INFO intern, posted on her blog about new male contraceptive options, which include hormonal therapy, testicular warming, transdermal gels and, fascinatingly, a vitamin A blocker. According to Yogeeta,

The most talked about methods are RISUG, an injectable compound that seems to prevent a man from fathering a child for up to 10 years and IVDs, which are sutured to the vas deferens.

Yogeeta, who cited a U.S. News & World Report article from April, writes that steady funding for research on male contraception is less than assured. This major roadblock means, in the words of Elaine Lissner, director of the San Francisco-based Male Contraception Information Project, no real progress can be made in the near future.

The problem, she added, is that research has been scattergun. ‘If we [continue to] do a study here, a study there, as we have for the last 20 years, it could take forever.’

In the mean time, don’t miss the Population Reports issue on vasectomy. Watch this site.