Abortion in Europe: Recent legislative changes and risk of inequality

Author(s):  
Andrea Cioffi ◽  
Camilla Cecannecchia ◽  
Fernanda Cioffi ◽  
Giorgio Bolino ◽  
Raffaella Rinaldi

BACKGROUND: Induced abortion is a medical practice that has always been much discussed all over the world. Abortion is allowed in most European countries at the request of the woman with limitations that are imposed mainly by the gestational age. However, there are legislative differences between European countries which impose stringent limits on the use of induced abortion. OBJECTIVE: This article analyzes the European legislation on abortion, with a particular focus on countries in which there have been recent legislative changes in recent years, and the possible consequent risk of inequality among European women. METHODS: Government and ministerial websites of the countries analyzed have been consulted to investigate abortion laws in Europe. In addition, the Global Abortion Policies Database of the World Health Organization was also consulted for a regulatory comparison. RESULTS: The differences between the various European countries are considerable. Although guaranteed by most legislation, abortion remains a fragile right in some European countries. CONCLUSION: Different legislation in the various countries of Europe causes difficulties for women who want to have an abortion but who reside in states where there are strict limits to abortion. In addressing the issue of induced abortion, we must not forget that the center of this practice is the woman. For this reason, it is essential to apply a reasoning based on respect for women’s rights: freedom, health, and self-determination.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Meyer ◽  
Elin Roos ◽  
Jacques Schrenzel ◽  
Frédéric Ris ◽  
Justin Davies

Abstract IntroductionRecent evidence has shown the importance of the microbiome in the development and maintenance of obesity. Probiotics were proposed for modulating the microbiome in order to achieve weight loss.MethodsData related to consumption of dairy food in European countries were obtained from the Global Dairy Consumption Report of the European Association of Dairy Trade Eucolait. Age-adjusted prevalence of obesity in European countries was extracted from the World Health Organization Global Health Repository. Linear regression was performed.ResultsConsumption of cheese in kilogram per capita was inversely correlated to the age-adjusted prevalence of obesity in 26 European countries (R2: 0.298, p=0.004).ConclusionConsumption of cheese appears to protect against weight gain. This finding deserves further confirmation by longitudinal studies or randomized controlled trials.


2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Vojir ◽  
Erwin Schübl ◽  
Ibrahim Elmadfa

In the second half of the 19th century the incidence of food adulterations increased very rapidly, prompting many European countries to put into force food laws to fight these practices. A number of parallel attempts were undertaken to establish a collection of instructions for the assessment of food samples to warrant the comparability of results obtained and interpreted by different experts. The first official steps towards such a standardization was made in 1891 at an international meeting of food chemists and microscopic scientists in Vienna. As a consequence, Austria installed a “Scientific Commission” in 1891, which drafted chapters for a future Codex Alimentarius Austriacus. In 1907, a Codex Commission was installed by the Ministry of Interior, but it took about four years, from 1907 to 1911, before the first edition of this compendium was published. So far, four editions have followed. The Codex Alimentarius Austriacus is a set of standards and guidelines for stakeholders, authorities, and law courts as a base for their activities. It has evolved over the past 100 years to become a flexible instrument, which has become indispensable for Austria. After 1945, attempts were made in different parts of the world to develop standardized rules for the testing of food samples to prevent trade barriers within the respective region. In Europe for instance, the development of a Codex Alimentarius Europaeus initiated by the Austrian Hans Frenzel, and based upon the model of the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus, made good progress. A number of other European countries were involved in this project. However, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations were intent on impeding such regional activities to prevent trade barriers at a global level. Between 1960 and 1963, steps were taken to install a FAO/WHO Codex partly in close cooperation with the Codex Alimentarius Europaeus. Since 1963, the FAO/WHO Codex Commission has issued the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius, which took its name and some organizational aspects from Codex Alimentarius Europaeus, that was itself modeled after the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus. The Codex Alimentarius Europaeus was incorporated into the Codex Alimentarius Commission as the regional coordinating committee for Europe, thus providing a model for the six regional coordination committees of the Codex Alimentarius Commission existing today.


2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
D Falzon ◽  
J C Desenclos

In 2004, 414 163 tuberculosis cases were notified by 51 of the 52 countries of the World Health Organization European Region, representing 8% of notifications to WHO worldwide in the same year. Seventy per cent of all TB cases in the region were in the 12 countries of the Former Soviet Union


2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
K E Brown ◽  
M N Mulders ◽  
F Freymuth ◽  
S Santibanez ◽  
M M Mosquera ◽  
...  

During late 2010, a previously unrecognised strain of measles genotype G3 virus was identified in five different European countries by the World Health Organization Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network. Apart from one, none had a travel history to south-east Asia, the usual source of G3 viruses, although epidemiological links could be established between some of the cases. This case series illustrates the value of genotyping and sequencing in tracking measles infections, and identifying otherwise unrecognised chains of transmission.


2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Nicoll ◽  
R Kaiser

The influenza pandemic preparedness plans for 21 of 29 European countries, published between January 2002 and November 2005, were recently reviewed and compared against a series of attributes based on the 2005 checklist produced by the World Health Organization


2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (07) ◽  
pp. 526-527

Coenen M et al. [Recommendation for the collection and analysis of data on participation and disability from the perspective of the World Health Organization]. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz 2016; 59: 1060–1067 Um eine gleichberechtigte Teilhabe an der Gesellschaft von Menschen mit Behinderung zu ermöglichen, werden zunächst Daten zu vorhandenen Einschränkungen gebraucht. Erst wenn diese detailliert erhoben wurden, können Konzepte zur Beseitigung von Problemen entwickelt werden. Ein standardisiertes Erhebungsinstrument für alle Aspekte der Funktionsfähigkeit fehlte jedoch bisher.


2020 ◽  
pp. 276-289
Author(s):  
Mobina Fathi ◽  
Kimia Vakili ◽  
Niloofar Deravi

Around the end of December 2019, a new beta-coronavirus from Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China began to spread rapidly. The new virus, called SARS-CoV-2, which could be transmitted through respiratory droplets, had a range of mild to severe symptoms, from simple cold in some cases to death in others. The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 was named COVID-19 by WHO and has so far killed more people than SARS and MERS. Following the widespread global outbreak of COVID-19, with more than 132758 confirmed cases and 4955 deaths worldwide, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic disease in January 2020. Earlier studies on viral pneumonia epidemics has shown that pregnant women are at greater risk than others. During pregnancy, the pregnant woman is more prone to infectious diseases. Research on both SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, which are pathologically similar to SARS-CoV-2, has shown that being infected with these viruses during pregnancy increases the risk of maternal death, stillbirth, intrauterine growth retardation and, preterm delivery. With the exponential increase in cases of COVID-19 throughout the world, there is a need to understand the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the health of pregnant women, through extrapolation of earlier studies that have been conducted on pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV. There is an urgent need to understand the chance of vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from mother to fetus and the possibility of the virus crossing the placental barrier. Additionally, since some viral diseases and antiviral drugs may have a negative impact on the mother and fetus, in which case, pregnant women need special attention for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19.


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