What is Reproductive Health?
Reproduction health definition put forward by Public Health England is “a state of physical, mental and social well-being in all matters relating to the reproductive system”.
The ambit of reproductive and sexual health also includes the freedom and capacity to reproduce when and how one decides, apart from maintaining a “satisfying and safe sex life”.
Components of Reproductive Health
Reproductive health meaning covers the following components –
Family Planning
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined family planning as “the ability of individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births. It is achieved through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of involuntary infertility”.
Pregnancy and fertility are among the prevalent factors of family planning. Successful pregnancy between 25 to 34 years of age has become a major concern in the present days.
Sexual Health
Usage of contraception is not only a key factor in preventing unwanted pregnancy but also protects against sexually transmitted infection. STIs are the major risk factors for the reproductive health of both men and women. While HIV is much harder to treat, Gonorrhea and Chlamydia can be easily prevented and treated.
Maternal Health
Women should have access to medical care in the course of pregnancy as well as in the prenatal and postnatal stages.
Apart from these major components, various aspects such as menstrual cycle, healthy relationships along with choice and safety are critical pillars of reproductive health.
Did You Know?
Close to 12 million girls between 15-19 years and approximately 777,000 girls below 15 years give birth every year in developing regions of the world. Among these, at least 10 million are unintended pregnancies. The complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the main cause for death of adolescent girls across the world.
Life Cycle Approach in Reproductive Health
In determining what is reproductive health, it is important to take note of the life cycle approach.
The different stages in the reproductive health life cycle are –
Infancy and Childhood (0 - 9 years)
The different aspects of reproductive health during infancy and childhood are – sex selection (resulting in foeticide), female genital mutilation, discriminatory nutrition and healthcare.
Adolescence (10 – 19 years)
The concerns about reproductive health in the adolescence period are – physiological changes, early marriage and childbearing, abortion, contracting an infectious disease (AIDS/sexually transmitted infections), anaemia, sexual orientation, abuse or violence and gender discrimination.
Reproductive Period (15 – 45+ years)
The problems are – forced marriage, unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, infertility, malnutrition, pregnancy complications, child-raising, violence and abuse, among others.
Post-Reproductive Period (45+ years onwards)
In the post-reproductive period, there are other physical ailments that may come up apart from reproductive health. Those include cancer, cardiovascular diseases, osteoarthritis/osteoporosis, sexual dysfunction, diabetes, infertility and menopause, etc.
Importance of Reproductive Health
Reproductive system is perhaps the most fragile in human bodies. Unhealthy lifestyle in earlier years can wreak havoc on general health, apart from sexual and reproductive health. The major problem that arises is with respect to fertility.
Preconception care and reproductive health are intrinsically linked. Fertility and associated health concerns are better addressed by practising safe sex, which prevents unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Measures Taken for the Awareness of Reproductive Health
By now you might have know how crucial is to maintain the proper reproductive health, here are the list of some measures taken by various government to spread awareness of the reproductive measures are as follows -
In India, the family planning programmes have been working since 1951 in order to spread awareness about family planning. Reproductive and Child Healthcare (RCH) programmes was the improved version of the previous family planning programmes.
In schools, providing sex education to the student in their early life, can be helpful in preventning them to experiment with their sexuall organs and harming them.
Couples should be educated about the various birth control options and also about the care that needs to be taken in the process of pregnancies.
Implementation of action plans to provide various medical facilities and medical assistance to take care of different reproduction related issues like Pregnancy, STDs, contraception and menstrual problems.
Test Your Knowledge
i. How do oral contraceptive pills help in birth control?
(a) Preventing ovulation
(b) Killing ova
(c) Killing sperms
(d) Creating a barrier between sperms and ova
ii. Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT) mixes sperm and egg in the ___________
(a) Culture medium
(b) Fallopian tube
(c) Vagina
(d) Uterus
Solutions: i. (a) Preventing ovulation, ii. (b) Fallopian tube
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FAQs on Reproductive Health
1. What is reproductive health?
The mental, physical, as well as social well-being of an individual with respect to reproductive system matters, processes and functions constitute reproductive health. After the eyes, reproductive organs are the second most sensitive organ of the human body, and hence maintaining their health should be taken seriously. The reproductive organs or systems provide the power of reproducing an offspring to an individual. The reproductive can be considered as a state in which the a person can have a safe and satisfying sexual life and also harbours the power of reproducing.
2. What are sexually transmitted diseases?
Diseases such as gonorrhoea, HIV which are contracted only with sexual intercourse are called sexually transmitted diseases. Many of these sexual disease can not be treated even by the best of the doctors, as the modern medical science is not able to find the cure for these diseases. So, prevention is the only way to protect oneself from these diseases. One simple way of preventing such diseases is not to have a lot of many sexual partners and using preventive like the use of condoms.
3. What are the main components of reproductive health?
The main components of reproductive health are – family planning, sexual health and maternal health.
Family planning is the ability of a couple to attain their desired number of offspring (Children) and have a proper time gap between the birth of each child. Pregnancy and fertility are the major issues in family planning.
Sexual health includes the use of contraceptive to prevent unwanted prgencies and also prevents the sexually transmitted dieseases. Maternal health includes the access to the proper health facilities for a woman under the course of pregnancy.
4. Why is it necessary to maintain proper reproductive health?
It is equally important to have a well maintained reproductive health for both the males and females. Mainting proper reproductive health or sexual health is a necessity to ensure the healthy functioning of the reproductive organs or system in a human body and maintain a physically and mentally healthy body, in which the reproductive organs can work properly. If a person take care of his/her reproductive health, then that person can lead a satisfying and safe sex life and will be capable of reproducing a healthy offspring, It also protects both the mother and the offspring from different infectious diseases.
Exercising certain measrues for maintaining proper reporductive health can help a person to prevent them from various reproductive diseases like sexually transmitted diseases.
5. What are the causes of population explosion and how to control it?
After the World War 2, there was rapid growth in the human population of the world. And this increase in population has added a lot of stress to the limited resources available, which will be needed to satisfy the needs of this next generation of human population. This unprecedented increase in human population which is putting a lot of stress on the currently available resources is called as the Population Explosion.
The major causes of the population explosion are as follows -
Due to the advancement in medical science we have seen a rapid decrease in the death rate and the increase in the life expectancy of people.
Also there is a rapid decrease in infant mortality and maternal mortality rate.
As this population growth increases pressure on the available resource and will not be sustainable in the long run, it needs to be controlled. There are a number of ways to keep the population growth in check, which are -
Governments around the world can start by promoting small families.
Promoting the use of condoms and also making contraceptives easily available to the general public.
