Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

HEALTH

Huge spike in sleep drug use among children in Sweden

Sweden has seen a ninefold increase over ten years in the number of children using melatonin to help them sleep better, Sveriges Radio reports.

Published: 17 August 2016 11:42 CEST
Huge spike in sleep drug use among children in Sweden
A boy sleeps in his bed. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

Citing figures from the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen), the report said 23,000 people in the 0-19 age bracket used the prescription drug in 2015, despite its use not being formally approved for minors. 

“It’s a big increase, and there’s also increased use of other medicines used to treat sleep disorders,” Ninna Gullberg from the Medical Products Agency (Läkemedelsverket) told the radio network’s Ekot news programme. 

Melatonin is a hormone that occurs naturally in the human body. The medical variant has no known side effects but the health board’s medical expert Barbro Thurfjell said not enough studies had been carried out on potential long-term effects. 

Doctors are only allowed to prescribe melatonin to help children sleep if other medicines or methods have not worked. 

It is often used to help children return to a normal sleep pattern after they have experienced sleeping difficulties that can have a negative impact on day-to-day life.

Children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are often prescribed the drug.

HEALTH

Danish parties agree to raise abortion limit to 18 weeks

Denmark's government has struck a deal with four other parties to raise the point in a pregnancy from which a foetus can be aborted from 12 weeks to 18 weeks, in the first big change to Danish abortion law in 50 years.

Published: 3 May 2024 08:06 CEST
Danish parties agree to raise abortion limit to 18 weeks

The government struck the deal with the Socialist Left Party, the Red Green Alliance, the Social Liberal Party and the Alternative party, last week with the formal announcement made on Monday  

“In terms of health, there is no evidence for the current week limit, nor is there anything to suggest that there will be significantly more or later abortions by moving the week limit,” Sophie Løhde, Denmark’s Minister of the Interior and Health, said in a press release announcing the deal.

The move follows the recommendations of Denmark’s Ethics Council, which in September 2023 proposed raising the term limit, pointing out that Denmark had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Western Europe. 

READ ALSO: 

Under the deal, the seven parties, together with the Liberal Alliance and the Conservatives, have also entered into an agreement to replace the five regional abortion bodies with a new national abortion board, which will be based in Aarhus. 

From July 1st, 2025, this new board will be able to grant permission for abortions after the 18th week of pregnancy if there are special considerations to take into account. 

The parties have also agreed to grant 15-17-year-olds the right to have an abortion without parental consent or permission from the abortion board.

Marie Bjerre, Denmark’s minister for Digitalization and Equality, said in the press release that this followed logically from the age of sexual consent, which is 15 years old in Denmark. 

“Choosing whether to have an abortion is a difficult situation, and I hope that young women would get the support of their parents. But if there is disagreement, it must ultimately be the young woman’s own decision whether she wants to be a mother,” she said. 

The bill will be tabled in parliament over the coming year with the changes then coming into force on June 1st, 2025.

The right to free abortion was introduced in Denmark in 1973. 

SHOW COMMENTS