Toward Better Treatment for Women's Reproductive Health: New Devices, Nanoparticles, and Even Robotic Sperm May Hold the Key to Preventing a Range of Health Conditions.

Although women and men share many similar health challenges throughout their lifetimes, women are not necessarily healthier. Some conditions that only women experience-such as pregnancy, ovarian cancer, or the abnormal growth of the uterus called endometriosis- can become great health risks. HIV, AIDS, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are also serious medical and social issues for women worldwide. And because a woman's reproductive system is complex and delicate-which makes it particularly vulnerable to dysfunction or disease-finding ways to treat conditions that take root in the reproductive tract often prove challenging.