Must have heard of family planning lately?, well, that’s because most families are trying to practice it in order to achieve a certain aim.
Mostly, in West Africa and a country like ours, I won’t say we fully practice family planning as there are many cases of unwanted pregnancies and also cases of improper spacing between children (in age) though only a few number practice family planning.
Here, I would love to share the little research I did on family planning and also discussing the benefits.
Family planning allows people to attain their desired number of children and determine the spacing of pregnancies through the use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of infertility.
Hearing of contraceptives, most individuals would channel their mind to something possessing negative effects only, the truth remains that contraceptives or contraceptive methods are the best way to manage family planning.
Benefits
- Family planning is essential for promoting the well-being and autonomy of women as it also ensures preferred contraceptive methods for couple.
- It enables people to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health.
- It enlightens parents and also presents opportunity for women to pursue education and participate in public life.
- Family planning aids to allowing proper spacing of pregnancies as it can delay pregnancies in young women at a risk of certain health problems and death from childbirth.
- It allows women who wish to limit the size of their family. A woman’s ability to decide if and when to get pregnant has an impact on her health.
- Family planning also helps reduce the risk of unintended pregnancies among women living with HIV.
- Family planning aids in reducing infant mortality.
- It also helps reduce pregnancies in adolescents. Adolescents who get pregnant are more likely to have a preterm or low-weight babies and also are a higher risk of neonatal mortality.
- Family planning also helps in controlling population growth. One key to slowing unsustainable population growth which results in negative impacts on the economy, regional and national development is family planning.
Contraceptive Use
The use of contraceptives has increased in many parts of the world but continues to be low in sub-Saharan Africa (most Nigerians for example disapprove it).
As stated earlier, most people reject contraceptive measures provided as a means of family planning for certain reasons. Some of the reasons people do not patronize contraceptive methods include:
- Fear or experience of side-effects
- Limited choice of methods
- Religious or cultural opposition
- Poor quality of available services
- Limited access to contraception
- Fear of discrimination
Family planning should be widely available and easily accessible through trained health workers and midwives. For example, trained workers can also provide counseling and other methods, pills and condoms for example.
Having a smaller family provides certain benefits for you and your family as it allows parents to be able to control population growth, invest more in each child, and the likes. Family planning is the key to achieving this success.
