Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand women’s experiences, acceptability and outcomes of using the medical termination of pregnancy (MTP). The study is conducted at nine reproductive health and family planning clinics at university hospitals as well as regional and provincial hospitals located in Bangkok and the locations within Thailand. Design/methodology/approach This is a descriptive research recruiting healthy women with pregnancy up to 63 days since the last menstrual period (LMP) who opted for MTP during 2012–2014. Findings A total of 443 women who were referred from the reproductive health networks voluntarily participated in the study. Overall, 92.6 percent of participants had a complete abortion. No serious adverse events were found for cases using misoprostol at home or at clinic. More than 98.3 percent of the women felt satisfied or very satisfied with the method. More than 80 percent of participants thought that the side-effects of the method were as expected or less than expected. More than 95 percent of the women recommended having MTP available in Thailand. Originality/value The introduction of MTP that uses a mifepristone and misoprostol regimen (Medabon®) in pregnancies up to 63 days, since LMP demonstrates that misoprostol can be safely used by women at home or at clinic. The administration of misoprostol at home reduces the number of hospital visits, which saves time and costs for traveling from home to the facility. In addition, women have more privacy and control over their bodies by self-administering misoprostol. The MTP’s introductory results also show that MTP service provision is well integrated into reproductive health and family planning services. It is useful for stakeholders who would be involved in design and planning of health system services before the MTP is made broadly available throughout the country.

Background: Skin bleaching was reported to be commonly practiced among women and Africa was reported to be one of the most affected yet the subject is not given much attention in public health research in Zimbabwe despite the adverse effects of skin bleaching on health. Method: This study was an exploratory cross-sectional survey to explore skin bleaching, skin bleaching patterns and factors associated with skin bleaching among women living in Zimbabwe. An online self-administered questionnaire was sent out to women on social network i.e. WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Findings: A total number of 260 respondents, mean age 31.69 (SD, 8.12) years participated in the survey. The prevalence of skin bleaching among the participants was 31.15%. The major reason reported for skin bleaching was to have smooth and healthy skin alongside other factors such as beauty, gaining social favours for example getting married and good jobs. Occupation, complexion and marital status were associated with skin bleaching. The odds of skin bleaching for participants who were employed was 1.45(95% confidence interval [CI],0.32-1.91);p-value 0.02, dark skinned participants 2.56(95% CI, 0.76-2.87);p-value 0.01 and unmarried participants 2.87(95% CI,0.29-3.58);p-value 0.03. Conclusion: Evidence from the research suggests skin bleaching might be common among women living in Zimbabwe and possibly poses serious health threats to the women. Skin bleaching seems to be deep rooted in colourism. The colourism seems to be taken advantage of by the cosmetic industry which produce the potentially hazardous products which promise the revered light skin to women but which comes with a price. However, the study provides a base for future studies to ex- plore more on skin bleaching practices among women living in Zimbabwe. Keywords: Skin bleaching; skin bleaching products; women; Zimbabwe.

Main Objective: To find out the impacts of free markets on public health using skin bleaching among the women living in Zimbabwe as a case study. Materials and methods: The study was designed as a case study which used a combined methodology facilitated by a cross sectional online survey among 270 women living in Zimbabwe and key informant interviews among 10 cosmetic sellers in Zimbabwe. Results: All the key informants reported to be selling skin lightening cosmetics amongst their cosmetics, some of these cosmetics reported being illegal. All skin lightening products were reported to be hoarded outside Zimbabwe. Corruption  and relaxed policies on cosmetic regulation were suggested to be enabling entry of some of the illegal and potentially harmful products in the country. The prevalence of skin bleaching among the participants was 31.15% and most of the participants (61.40%) were ignorant about skin bleaching cosmetics' side effects. Conclusion: Results from the study imply neoliberalism could be promoting a high influx of harmful skin bleaching cosmetics in the Zimbabwean market putting a considerably high number of women who bleach their skin at risk andtherefore having a negative impact on public health. Targeted health education i.e. on skin bleaching, regulatory public health policies and their enforcement can play an important role in controlling access and subsequently curbing thedetrimental effects of skin bleaching products and improve the health of the public.

PurposeThe pledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is “to leave no one behind.” However, there are significant groups of people who are at risk of being left behind. The health and social issues facing prisoners are well known, but past initiatives to address them through international development initiatives have failed to gain widespread support. The purpose of this paper is to advocate for inclusion of prison health care in current international development frameworks such as Universal Health Coverage and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.Design/methodology/approachThis is a commentary paper.FindingsThe governments of most countries have accepted both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Universal Health Coverage as frameworks for future national development planning. Including prison health care in these frameworks will provide a powerful platform for those advocating for better prison health services and will allow governments wary of offending public opinion to make significant changes to the way prisons are managed. Providing better prison health care services will not only lead to better long-term population health outcomes overall but will also contribute to achieving the 2030 Agenda aspiration to “leave no-one behind.”Originality/valueThis paper provides a discussion of current international development guidance and identifies that prison health care is not sufficiently recognized as an essential contributor to achieving the sustainable development goals.