Family Planning
Family planning is the method of planning your family in terms of the desired number of children, & comfortably spacing your pregnancies. Family planning is achieved with the use of contraceptives. Traditional methods of contraception involve the withdrawal method, where the man ejaculates outside the woman’s vagina, & the calendar-based method, where intercourse is avoided during the fertile days of a menstrual cycle. However, there are more modern methods of contraception, which include:
- Oral contraceptive pills
- Implants containing progesterone hormone
- Injections of estrogen & progesterone
- Intrauterine devices
- Male & female condoms
- Male & female sterilization
Family planning has several benefits such as prevention of pregnancy-related health risks, sexually transmitted diseases (such as AIDS) & pregnancies in adolescents, slowing the growth of population & decreasing the rate of infant deaths.
What about female infertility?
Infertility is defined as the inability of women to conceive after a year of having unprotected sex, or the inability of women to sustain pregnancy.
Infertility can be present from birth (congenital) or can be acquired as you age. Some of the causes may include:
- Problems with ovulation
- Damaged fallopian tubes
- Abnormalities of the cervix & uterus
- Premature menopause
- Adhesions
- Other medical conditions
