Male contraception

Although female contraceptives are very effective at preventing unintended pregnancy, some women can not use them because of health conditions or side-effects, leaving some couples without effective contraceptive options. In addition, many men wish to take active responsibility for family planning. Thus, there is a great need for male contraceptives to prevent unintended pregnancies, of which 80-90 million occur annually. At present, effective male contraceptive options are condoms and vasectomy, which are not ideal for all men. Therefore, efforts are under way to develop novel male contraceptives. This paper briefly reviews the advantages and disadvantages of condoms and vasectomies and then discusses the research directed toward development of novel methods of male contraception.