Uche Obumneme Amaechina
(Ph.D Candidate)
Department of Educational
Management
University of Port Harcourt,
Choba.
Rivers State-Nigeria.
And
Chinweoke Eucharia Ogbaji (Mrs)
School of Postgraduate Studies,
Nnamdi Azikiwe University,Awka.
Anambra State-Nigeria.
Email: chyfavour123@yahoo.com
Abstract
Nigeria has
experienced high fertility and rapid population growth for at least the past
thirty years. Only recently have public authorities launched efforts to promote
contraceptive use. Great interest is
taken today in population problems, both for social and economic reasons, hence
family planning education. This paper looked at family planning education, the
concept, processes and implications to man for his betterment in the society.
We also evaluate the importance of family planning education and its contribution
to national growth and development. Family planning means planning when and how
many children one is going to have and how to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. It
means working out plan with one’s partner on how one wants to deal with
procreation within the context of sexual relationship. Family planning is of
two major types; Natural and Artificial family planning. Information on family
planning should be provided by service providers in various hospitals,
maternity homes, and clinic and health centers. Couples should be educated on
the need to have as many children as they can adequately care for in order to
reduce the incidence of child abuse in our society.
Introduction
The term family planning is sometimes used interchangeably
with the term birth control, although there are some differences
between the two terms. While birth control is something anybody can use to
prevent pregnancy, family planning is seen as something monogamous couples use
to temporarily delay pregnancy. In this way, family planning is seen as a
method to plan, rather than prevent, children. Family planning is seen as the
responsible choice for couples who are not ready to have children in the
present but may want to in the future.
Family
planning includes all methods of birth control, from the pill to condoms,
Intrauterine Devices (IUD), injectable hormonal contraceptives, and diaphragms,
caps and spermicides. Depending on the area, family planning may also refer to
methods used to terminate a pregnancy or possible pregnancy, such as abortion
and emergency contraception. Family planning may also refer to surgical
sterilization methods, including vasectomies and tubal ligation; and to non-surgical methods of
sterilization such as Essure.
Family
planning is also the term preferred by religious couples who do not approved of
using artificial birth control methods to prevent pregnancy. In this case,
family planning, sometimes called natural family planning, refers exclusively
to techniques such as temporary abstinence,
the withdrawal method, or the rhythm method, in which no outside
interference is used. While family planning
clinics do not favor any method over others, they are usually able to
accommodate most preferences and beliefs.
Family planning is an important
aspect of sex education and family life education. Family planning simply
refers to a means of controlling conception or pregnancy by limiting the size
of family to a number that the family or couple can conveniently provide for.
This can be achieved through
pregnancy prevention or contraception. Contraception can be defined as any
means or device used to prevent pregnancy on conception. In other words
contraception is a planned prevention of pregnancy. Family planning has to do with
a couple choosing and deciding the number of children they want to have and
when to have them. The term contraception is only a form of birth control.
The rate of population growth is
one of the major problems facing humanity in the last quarter of the twentieth
century. The development could be as a result of the reduction in the death
rate of infants and children due to better sanitation and control of diseases.
Increasing number survive to reach their reproductive years and being human
they reproduce
The Concept of Family Planning
Family planning has been defined
by various scholars, according to their understanding of the subject matter.
Okpala (2000) defined family planning as the regulation of the number of
children couples should bear as well as appropriate spacing, timing and the
assurance that each child shall be wanted and prepared for.
Ojo and Briggs (1980) also
defined family planning as a situation when fertile couples space out their
children and have the number of children they want at the time they desire
them.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) family planning
allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their number of
children and the spacing and timing of their births. It is achieved through the
use of contraceptive ability to space and limit her pregnancies has a direct
impact on her health and well being as well as on the outcome of each
pregnancy.
Family Planning Education and
Service
From the foregoing, there is the
urgent need for the creation of awareness to reduce the geometric progression
of world population. This can only be achieved through family planning
education. Information should be provided by service providers in various
hospitals, maternity homes, clinics and health centres. They should educate the
couples on the need to have fewer children that they can adequately care for in
order to reduce the possibility and or incidence of child abuse and child
labour.
Family planning services could
be defined as educational comprehensive medical or social activities which
enable individuals, to determine freely the number and spacing of their
children and to select the means by which this may be achieved. Family planning
aims at helping couples to achieve satisfactory sexual relationship by removing
the fear of repeated and unwanted pregnancies. Before 1987 National Health
Service (family planning) Act, family planning services were mainly provided by
voluntary, independently run organization such as the Family Planning
Association (FPA) at present, the National Health Services (NHS) wins family
planning clinics and hospitals where advice, treatment and the supply of
contraceptives are free. Family planning clinics also perform vasectomy
operations, (male sterilization) do pregnancy test, do ‘smear’ test for cervical
cancer offer advice on emotional and sexual problems and give contraceptives
advice to the unmarried. Female sterilization operations are performed in the
hospitals and childless couples can be referred to special hospital fertility
clinics for advice investigative test and necessary treatment.
The Methods Family Planning
There are two categories of family planning method and they
are as follows;
- Natural Methods
- Artificial Methods
Natural Family Planning (NFP) Methods
In
natural family planning, the couples control their fertility by careful timing
of their sexual relationship and a great deal of self discipline. Natural
methods usually work better in older couples who are very keen not to have a
baby and who keep careful records. Natural family planning excludes the use
other method of birth control. Mainly, natural family planning comes in form
of;
1. Abstinence:
One of the most effective ways of natural family planning is abstinence.
Couples, who do artificial, contraceptives, should keep away from sexual
intercourse during the fertile days of the woman. Some older couples prefer
this method as it is based on the woman’s natural body rhythms but it may be
difficult to work out her calendar and she must have very regular monthly
periods for it to succeed. Young couples can also use this method but its
success will depend upon how keen they are not to have a baby.
2. Withdrawal:
Withdrawal is another method of natural pregnancy prevention. In this method
the man withdraws his penis from the vagina before ejaculation. It is called
‘being careful’. Old couples sometimes prefer this method while young couples
often fail. For the method to succeed,
however, couples have to be determined and disciplined.
Artificial Family
Planning Methods
These are various ways of
stopping the sperm from getting to the egg by using artificial barriers. The
following fall under this category.
1.
Use of the condom: Condom is also called the
sheath. It is made of thin rubber which can stretch. There is a rim at one end
and a treat to trap the semen at the other end. It can only be put on after the
man has erection. After sexual intercourse, the man must remove himself
carefully, holding the rim of the condom close against his body so that no
semen escapes. This is very important. There have been cases where condom
failed to avoid pregnancy, either as a result of production defect or incorrect
use of the facility.
2.
Use of the Cap: A cap is usually worn by a
woman. It is a rubber barrier which covers the entrance to the cervix. It is of
different sizes and shapes. The woman must be measured for size and shown how
to put it in place. It must be put in place before sexual intercourse, and left
therefore at least six hours after then it is removed, washed in warm soapy
water and kept in a hygienic place for safety. It is examined for holes through
which the sperm could swim and put away until next time.
3.
Use of Spermicides: Spermicides include creams,
aerosol foams, jellies and suppositories (tablets which melt in the vagina)
they are not safe on their own but they are better than nothing at all. The
most recent one is sponge soaked in spermicide. This is moistured and put high
up in the vagina before intercourse. It is safer than the others as the sponge
open out to block the entrance to the cervix
4.
Use of combined pills: Another artificial method of
family planning is the used of birth control pills by women. These are tablets
that are based on the two female sex hormone-oestrogen and progesterone. They
work by stopping the normal hormone changes of the monthly cycle so that an egg
is not developed or released from the ovary. The combined pills must be taken
daily for three weeks, then stopped for one week. This stopped causes a
menstrual period which is lighter than usual. This is the most effective method
of family planning. It is very effective and the woman must go for regular
check ups on her health.
5.
The use of mini-pills: The combined pill method is not
suitable for young girls, especially if their periods have not settled down.
The mini-pill is based on only one female sex homone-progesteron. It works in a
different way from the combined pill. An egg is released from the ovary so the
periods are natural. The mini-pill must be taken every day at the same time
through out the month cycle.
6.
Intra-Uterine Device (IUD): The loop or Cooper T as it is
commonly known is a very safe convenient and reversible method of family
planning which does small device made up of metal, copper or elastic that is
inserted into the uterus of a woman of reproductive age, for as long as she
does not want a pregnancy. Normally, once it is inserted, it stays in place for
5 to 10 years and inhibits the entry of sperms into the inner recesses of the
vagina and therefore prevents fertilization. It is the most popular, the next
safest method. The IUD should be inserted and removed (when pregnancy is
desired) by a qualified medical practitioner, to avoid complication.
7.
Sterilization: This refers to permanent
contraception by surgical procedures to avoid future pregnancies. Sterilization is a method of birth
control suited for couples who do not want to have more children or for couples
who do not want to have tubal ligation for women. It is by far the safest and
most effective method of pregnancy control that is not reversible.
Sterilization is done permanently and is fool-proof method.
IMPORTANCE OF
FAMILY PLANNING
Family planning improves the
lives and health of the urban, poor and saves money. According to Ringheim
(2010), the 2010 World Health Day (April, 7) focuses on the importance of urban
health. Urbanization occurs rapidly in some parts of the world that some cities
are not able to keep up with increase demand for environmental health and additional
services, not to mention the employment, housing and transportation needs of a
population that may double in size in less than 25 years. Three quarters of
those living in the cities of the developing world live in slums or slum-like
conditions, because of these unhealthy conditions, rapid population growth in
urban areas is especially associated with increased health problems.
Urban slums have much higher
rates of illness than non-slums areas of the same cities and health and social
problems related to the environment, violence, injury and non-communicable
diseases are more common.
As one of the least expensive,
most cost-effective interventions with the most lasting impact on health,
family planning is often overlooked as an essential strategy to improve the
people’s health. Though, family planning services are less available in rural
and remote parts of less developed countries, the poor who live in urban areas
also have difficulty, for a variety of financial, social and cultural reasons,
accessing family planning services than do wealthier residents. Improving the
access of the poor to family planning services both in rural and urban areas
should therefore be a high priority to the service providers. This is as it
should for a variety reasons;
1.
Family planning
prevents abortion and maternal deaths: Women in sub-Sahara Africa have a one
in 22 lifetime risk of dying of causes related to pregnancies and delivery.
While maternal death or mortality has declined since 1990 by 26% in Latin
America and 20% in Asia, it has only fallen by 2% in sub-Sahara Africa (WHO,
2010). Women who give birth before age 18 or after age 55 or who have loosely
spaced pregnancies are at a greater risk of death. Family planning can avert
deaths by enabling young, sexually active women to delay their first pregnancy
until they are older and more physically and emotionally mature. However, the
use of contraceptives among sexually active women whether married or unmarried
is very low in most countries of sub-Sahara Africa
2.
Family planning
averts the deaths of infants and children: Spacing birth at least two years
apart is one of the most important and successful strategies for improving
birth outcomes and survival of infants. Infants born less than two years after
a previous birth are about twice as likely to die in the first year of life as
an infant born three years after a previous birth (WHO, 2010). Infants and
children born to mothers who are under age 20 are also much more likely to die
in the first days, months and years of life. The knowledge of family planning
education can avert pregnancies that occur too early; are unwanted or too
closely spaced. Family planning is a key to national growth and development but
greatly under-utilized.
3.
Rapid rise in
unintended births:
Many urban women report that they have more children than they intended to have
while wealthier urban women have access to contraception, poor women have less
physical and financial access to high quality reproductive health services and
to an affordable range of contraceptives that meet their needs. As the growth
of urban areas continues unabated, the value of reducing unwanted and unplanned
birth by enabling equitable access to contraception should not be
underestimated. It is one of the most sensible and cost-effective investments
that urban planners can make.
4.
Family planning
promotes environmental sustainability and expansion of education and health
services:
Investing in family planning not only saves lives but results in large savings
to the health, education and environmental sectors. With fewer children to
educate, government can extend safe water and sanitation services to greater
share of their populations. This will in turn have benefit in terms of reduced
water-borne diseases and deaths due to diarrhea. When population increases more
slowly, there is also less pressure on scarce land and water resources and less
pressure on scarce land and water resources and less environmental degradation
due to deforestation.
5.
Equity
in assess to family planning for the
poor is a matter of health and human rights: There is a near universal
agreement among governments that every child has a right to be wanted in the
society and women and couples have right to decide freely in the number of
children they will have in most societies, poor women are the least, likely to
be able to exercise the right to use contraception in part because they are the
least to pay for family planning services. Until poor women have the same
ability to exercise that right as wealthier women, urban areas will grow not
only in size but in level of inequality. The percentage of people living in
poverty will continue to increase and income inequality between rich and poor
will grow larger. Governments and main planners should ensure that the poor are
the recipients of public funds that subsidize aim to improve quality of
reproductive health services. Without these assurances, subsidize and
incentives are more likely to be utilized by those who do not need them a much.
Problems of Family
Planning
1.
Prolonged
nursing may lead to infant malnutrition if the baby is denied proper dietary
supplements. Furthermore, some people believe that intercourse during breast
feeding could result to contamination of breast milk by sperm which could cause
the death of the child.
2.
Coitus
interrupts is said to lead to pelvic discomfort in a woman, who is stimulate
but not relieved (unless she reaches a climax first) and in the man who has to
withdraw at a moment when he would penetrate more deeply. It is disturbing to
the couple and does not always work well because some sperm often leaks out
ahead of time and can cause pregnancy
3.
The
major complaint of condom users is that condom reduces sensitivity. Some men
cannot even maintain an erection while wearing condom.
4.
The
Intra-Uterine Device (IUD) fall out of some women. In others they cause pain,
discomfort, heavy bleeding during a period and some time serious problems, but
for some women they give no trouble at all.
5.
The
steroids used as the oral contraceptive affect many metabolic processes as well
as their principal targets and reproductive tract. There are the chances that
one can become pregnant if she forgets to take the pill as prescribed.
6.
Studies
have shown that about one woman in every four of the users of pills and
injections have irregular and unpredictable episodes of bleeding; secondly, if
the woman stops having injections and pills because she wants to become
pregnant, fertility is usually delayed.
CONCLUSION
From the foregoing, the need for family planning
education cannot be overemphasized. There should be a concerted effort by
government agencies. NGOs and individuals towards the creation of awareness
about family planning. No nation will achieve a meaningful development without
effective provision and implementation of family planning services. These
services when provided should be taken to those places of urban/rural areas
where they are mostly needed. Family planning when
fully and effectively implemented will go a long way to improve and better the
lives of individual families as well as the larger society. It will also go a
long way in sustaining the developmental paradigms of any nation.
REFERENCES
Chigba, (1990). Menstrual
disorder. Ibadan: Heinemann Publishers
Eneremadu, (1994). Sex
and Love. Onitsha: Feb Publishers Ltd
Esdproj (2005). Healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy:HTPS
Messages. USAID/
Global Health (2009). Promises
to keep; ‘The toll of unintended
pregnancies on women’s loves in the developing world’’ Retrieved 3rd
February 2009.
Kippley, Shuls, Kippley, John F.
(1996). The Art of natural family
planning (fourth ed.) Gncinnati OH; Couple to Couple league international1
Liewellyn, and JONES (1998). Every
woman; a gynaecological guide for
life. London: Safari Books (export) Ltd.
Malthus, J (1978). Economic for developing world. Britain
Richard day.
Pivarunas, Mark
A. (2002). ‘On the questions of natural
family planning’. Retrieved February 18, 2002 online.
Sonfield. A, Alrich C. and Gold
RB. (2006). Public funding for family,
sterilization and abortion services, 1980-2006, 2008. No 38. Retrieved 28th
January 2008.
World Health Organization (2010). Family Planning
Wikipedia (2007). Family planning. Retrieved
March 13th 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment