This week is Maternal Mental Health Awareness week, highlighting an important issue for all and new mothers. Worldwide at least 1 in every 10 pregnant women experience a mental health disorder, including depression and anxiety. Many of these women will need treatment with medicines. 

There is often uncertainty surrounding medicine use in pregnancy. Ideally, pregnant women who may need to take medicines will be able to discuss with their doctor any potential positive or negative effects on both the woman and baby. This should be weighed-up against the effects on the mother’s and baby’s health of not using the medicine, or reducing the dose. The woman and her doctor can then decide together what is right for her. In order for doctors and women to be fully informed about any potential risks, up-to-date safety data on drug use in pregnancy is required.

You could start today, by visiting the ‘Best Use of Medicines in Pregnancy’ website, where you can record details of any previous or current  pregnancies: www.medicinesinpregnancy.org/Login/. This kind of voluntary pharmacovigilance is a way in which all women can really improve the quality of data available and make sure there is more accurate and useful information for pregnant women in the future.

Thank you!

By Sally Stephens, the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and UK Teratology Information Service

On 13 March 2020, the WHO issued the second edition of their interim guidance for clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) when COVID-19 disease is suspected. The guidance is meant for clinicians who are involved in the care of adult, pregnant or pediatric patients and specific considerations for pregnant women and children are highlighted throughout the text. The document includes sections on caring for pregnant women with COVID-19 and caring for infants and mothers, covering infection prevention and control and breastfeeding.

The document  can be downloaded from the WHO website: Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection when novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection is suspected

https://www.who.int/publications-detail/clinical-management-of-severe-acute-respiratory-infection-when-novel-coronavirus-(ncov)-infection-is-suspected

The Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) is one of five Swiss university hospitals. Through its collaboration with the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne and the EPFL, CHUV plays a leading role in the areas of medical care, medical research and training. The drug in real life unit is part of the new Centre de Recherche et Innovation en Sciences Pharmaceutiques Cliniques – CRISP. Its research activities focus on how drugs are used once they are on the market and how their use can be improved.

A PhD position is available for an excellent candidate with strong qualifications and high motivation to conduct research on medication excretion into human milk. The focus of the project is to participate to the ConcePTION project aiming to establish a non-commercial, Europe-wide breast milk biobank and analytical center. You will be in charge of the development of:

• Demonstration studies aiming to test the feasibility of sample collection to constitute Europe-wide breast milk biobank
• Support the development of the analytical center in providing information and gaining experience in data analysis using the Milk SSRI cohort data.

Application deadline: March 15 2020

Additional information can be found here.