The Hindu : Now, a single dose will do

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2003

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National

Now, a single dose will do

By Gargi Parsai

New Delhi Feb. 25. The Morning After or the Emergency Contraception pill for women opting out of a pregnancy within 72 hours of "unprotected sex'' will now be available in a single dose. So far women have had to use two pills with 72 hours (three days), 12 hours apart, to prevent a pregnancy before it occurs. Now, they can use only one tablet and that too within five days of "unprotected sex'' to avert pregnancy. Multi-centric trials with a single dose and a safety net up to 120 hours (five days) have been completed in several countries including India. Trials at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have shown a 95 per cent efficacy with 1.5 mg of a single dose of levonorgestrel, as against 0.75 mg given 12 hours apart.

The slight disadvantage of the two-pill dosage was that women often forgot to take the second dose in the middle of the night, the Principle Investigator of the WHO-sponsored programme, Suneeta Mittal, head of the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, told The Hindu. However, warns Dr Mittal: "The Emergency Contraception can prevent 85 to 90 per cent pregnancies which are accidental, yet the efficacy of this method is always less than that of regular contraception.That is why the Emergency Contraception pill is only available on prescription so that women come to doctors who can then counsel them about the need for regular contraception.'' The Emergency Contraception pill is available on prescription under the family welfare programme of the Government. But because of lack of awareness yet among the users, as well as service providers, the pill is not available across the counter but only through healthcare centres. Trials have shown that with a higher dose of levonorgestrel the side-effects such as vomiting, nausea, dizziness and delay in periods affected almost 50 per cent of women.

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