India was amongst the first countries in the world to initiate action plans and programmes at a national level to attain total reproductive health as a social goal. These programmes called ‘family planning’ were initiated in 1951 and were periodically assessed over the past decades. Improved programmes covering wider reproduction-related areas are currently in operation under the popular name ‘Reproductive and Child Health Care (RCH) programmes’. It is very important for an adult and adolescent to be aware of sexual health, reproduction, contraceptives, STDs. This will help in maintaining good reproductive health, physically as well as mentally. People can protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections and diseases only if they are well informed about the same.
There are three essential components of sexual and reproductive health care-
- Family planning – It has a significant impact on the well-being of families and especially women. With better family planning and use of contraceptives, one can avoid unwanted pregnancies, space births and also protect themselves from STDs.
- Sexual health – It refers to a respectful and positive approach towards sexual relationships. It is a very important prerequisite for good reproductive health.
- Maternal health – It refers to the maintenance of a woman’s health during pregnancy and after childbirth.
Creating awareness among people about various reproduction related aspects and providing facilities and support for building up a reproductively healthy society are the major tasks under these programmes. With the help of audio-visual and print-media governmental and non-governmental agencies have taken various steps to create awareness among the people about reproduction-related aspects. Parents, other close relatives, teachers and friends, also have a major role in the dissemination of the above information. The introduction of sex education in schools should also be encouraged to provide the right information to the young so as to discourage children from believing in myths and having misconceptions about sex-related aspects. Proper information about reproductive organs, adolescence and related changes, safe and hygienic sexual practices, sexually transmitted diseases (STD), AIDS, etc., would help people, especially those in the adolescent age group to lead a reproductively healthy life. Educating people, especially fertile couples and those in the marriageable age group, about available birth control options, care of pregnant mothers, post-natal care of the mother and child, the importance of breastfeeding, equal opportunities for the male and the female child, etc., would address the importance of bringing up socially conscious healthy families of the desired size. Awareness of problems due to uncontrolled population growth, social evils like sex-abuse and sex-related crimes, etc., need to be created to enable people to think and take up necessary steps to prevent them and thereby build up a socially responsible and healthy society. Successful implementation of various action plans to attain reproductive health requires strong infrastructural facilities, professional expertise and material support. These are essential to provide medical assistance and care to people in reproduction-related problems like pregnancy, delivery, STDs, abortions, contraception, menstrual problems, infertility, etc. Implementation of better techniques and new strategies from time to time is also required to provide more efficient care and assistance to people. Statutory ban on amniocentesis for sex-determination to legally check the increasing menace of female foeticides, massive child immunisation, etc., are some programmes that merit a mention in this connection. In amniocentesis, some of the amniotic fluid of the developing foetus is taken to analyse the fetal cells and dissolved substances. This procedure is used to test for the presence of certain genetic disorders such as Down syndrome, haemophilia, sickle-cell anaemia, etc., determine the survivability of the foetus. Research on various reproduction-related areas is encouraged and supported by governmental and non-governmental agencies to find out new methods and/or to improve upon the existing ones. Do you know that ‘Saheli’–a new oral contraceptive for females–was developed by scientists at Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) in Lucknow, India? Better awareness about sex-related matters, increased number of medically assisted deliveries and better post-natal care leading to decreased maternal and infant mortality rates, increased number of couples with small families, better detection and cure of STDs and overall increased medical facilities for all sex-related problems, etc. all indicate improved reproductive health of the society.
(Featured Image from Google)
Written by Ahendrila Goswami