Summary Background A UK dermatology curricula review has suggested that undergraduate delivery relies on lectures and is subject to clinical and staffing pressures. Many UK undergraduate students feel less than adequately prepared to manage dermatological conditions, and misconceptions about dermatology are common. Educators have called for innovative solutions, including small group teaching. Escape rooms are games requiring teams to solve puzzles to escape from a room. Aim To assess the impact of an escape room game on perceptions of dermatology among undergraduate medical students. Methods Students were invited to an escape room to consolidate lessons taught in a previous lecture. Students were first asked to complete a questionnaire about their preferred learning environments, perceptions of dermatology and confidence in content. Following the escape room event, these questions were revisited. Focus groups were then held to explore themes raised. Results In total, 16 students took part in the escape room sessions and in 3 focus groups. Feedback was strongly positive, with 100% of students expressing ‘strongly agree’ on whether they enjoyed the session. Qualitative data were coded for themes of accessibility, variety of taught content and awareness. The majority (94%) of students stated the escape room made them want to experience more dermatology. Conclusion Prejudices about dermatology exist among medical students, and may act as a barrier to perceived accessibility to the specialty. Escape rooms can provide a shift to a more learner‐centred approach, which may aid in combating these negative perceptions. They may act as an enjoyable means of consolidating lecture‐based and clinical teaching, and require minimal resources.

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Postpartum contraception is important to prevent unintended pregnancies. Assisting women in achieving recommended inter-pregnancy intervals is a significant maternal-child health concern. Short inter-pregnancy intervals are associated with negative perinatal, neonatal, infant, and maternal health outcomes. More than 30% of women experience inter-pregnancy intervals of less than 18 months in the United States. Provision of any contraceptive method after giving birth is associated with improved inter-pregnancy intervals. However, concerns about the impact of hormonal contraceptives on breastfeeding and infant health have limited recommendations for such methods and have led to discrepant recommendations by organizations such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this review, we discuss current recommendations for the use of hormonal contraception in the postpartum period. We also discuss details of the lactational amenorrhea method and effects of hormonal contraception on breastfeeding. Given the paucity of high quality evidence on the impact on hormonal contraception on breastfeeding outcomes, and the strong evidence for improved health outcomes with achievement of recommended birth spacing intervals, the real risk of unintended pregnancy and its consequences must not be neglected for fear of theoretical neonatal risks. Women should establish desired hormonal contraception before the risk of pregnancy resumes. With optimization of postpartum contraception provision, we will step closer toward a healthcare system with fewer unintended pregnancies and improved birth outcomes.

Water insecurity is a defining feature of the Anthropocene, with degraded water quality and unreliable flows putting the well‐being of upstream and downstream communities, both human and aquatic, at risk. Within this context, the protection of drinking water at its source – ‘source water protection’ – is growing as a complementary water security solution to conventional built infrastructure, particularly but not only to address non‐point source pollution. An assessment of the likely source catchments of 4000 cities, supplying water to as many as 1.7 billion city dwellers, found that 85% of the total area of the catchments overlaps with freshwater ecoregions of high biodiversity value. Source water protection could contribute to conserving important freshwater biodiversity elements in these catchments, through activities such as land protection, restoration, and agricultural and ranching best‐management practices. Empirical evidence supporting the benefits of these types of activities to freshwater species and ecosystems is sparse, especially when considered at the scales required to achieve meaningful conservation objectives. This article explores the potential of source water protection to deliver freshwater conservation benefits, and solutions are proposed to address the challenges related to evidence gaps, trade‐offs, and financing. The broader opportunity for leveraging water security investments for biodiversity conservation, and the overall efficiencies that may accrue from optimizing for multiple benefits simultaneously, are discussed in the context of global frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals.

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