The first program was entitled ‘Beyond the pill’: It looked at why, despite international studies finding alternative contraceptives up to twenty times more effective at preventing an unintended pregnancy, their rate of take-up in Australia remains dismal. The second program ‘The tick-tock of the biological clock’; reported the work of Jean Twenge who, through metanalyses, found our notion of a ‘biological clock’ to be overblown and procreation not as difficult as we’ve been led to believe. The piece on Vulvar Lichen Sclerosus explained a relatively common disorder that makes life for a large number of post-menopausal women excruciating. Vastly unknown amongst health professionals, it is often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as thrush. A relatively treatable condition if caught early, the lost time means these women often have to causing the women to have horrific, unnecessary surgery where their labias are removed. The fourth piece – Endometriosis – explored a medical condition more common than asthma or diabetes. Affecting one in ten Australian women, sufferers describe the pain as otherworldly – as if they are being torn up from their insides. Yet the treatment options available in Australia are minimal. This is the story of a tenacious mother-daughter team who fought tooth and nail, via Twitter and Facebook, for Australia to have access for a drug to manage the pain.
