Strategies to Maintain Reproductive Health: Health has been a major concern for everyone during recent pandemic times. Health is important even when it comes to allowing an organism to reproduce.  So what is reproductive health? Reproductive health refers to the state of physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being in all aspects of reproduction and the reproductive system. A couple with good reproductive health is capable of carrying out safe sex and ensure the birth of a healthy baby and therefore leads to a healthy generation for the future. Moreover, good reproductive health is also necessary to prevent the spread of several diseases during sexual intercourse, called sexually transmitted diseases and is responsible for an organism to be fertile.

What is Reproductive Health?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines reproductive health as the total well-being in all the aspects of reproduction, i.e., physical, emotional, behavioural, and social.

What is Reproductive Health?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines reproductive health as the total well-being in all the aspects of reproduction, i.e., physical, emotional, behavioural, and social.

What is the Importance of Reproductive Health?

The importance of good reproductive health can be listed as follows:

1. Good reproductive health ensures a safe and satisfactory sex life.
2. The probability of transmission of diseases during sexual intercourse, i.e. STDs or RTIs or Venereal diseases, are reduced to a great extent if both partners are reproductively healthy.
3. Good reproductive health is important for both men and women overall body health and well-being.
4. A reproductively healthy couple give birth to healthy offspring.

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Problems Related to Reproductive Health

World Health Organisation reports account for sexual illness in about 20% of women and 14% of men. Therefore, it becomes our primary necessity to know about the problems that cause reproductive illness so that steps should be taken in the direction to root out these problems. A few common problems related to reproductive health failure are discussed as follows:
1. Over-population: Population explosion is one of the major problems for deterioration of reproductive health as well as overall body health. The exponential increase in the population causes the scarcity of basic needs required to maintain the well-being of a person. Overpopulation leads to a lack of nutrient supply. The scarcity of nutritional needs affects the overall health of a person that also includes reproductive health. It becomes difficult to overcome the health issues that occur due to menstrual weakness and during the pregnancy period and post the pregnancy in females. The lack of nutrients and other necessities during pregnancy not only causes adverse effects on the female but also can cause harm to the foetus.
2. Lack of Sex Education: A drop in the sex education of a male and female leads to unhygienic sexual practice that negatively affects the reproductive health of either both or any one of the partners. Unsafe and unhygienic coitus during pregnancy can cause deformities in the foetus.
3. Sexually Transmitted Diseases: The diseases that are transmitted during oral, anal, and vaginal sex are called sexually transmitted diseases. The disease-causing microbes that enter the body during coitus also affect the genital organs of the person. Genital ulcers, pain during sex and urination, abnormal discharge from the external genital parts, etc., are a few common symptoms that cause sexual discomfort. If such diseases are not treated, it even leads to infertility.
4. Sexual and Physical Abuse: Sexual or physical abuse includes a wide variety of violent behaviour, some of which are legally recognised as criminal acts. The adverse effects of violence on sexual and reproductive health are multiple and long-lasting. The physical and physiological effects of sexual abuse can be discussed as follows:
I. Physical consequences of sexual abuse may lead to sexually transmitted diseases in a person. In females, it can cause unwanted pregnancy, miscarriage, unsafe abortion.
II. The psychological consequences include anxiety, depression, sexual dysfunction, and difficulties with interpersonal relationships. Hence, there is a need for long-term management of victims of sexual abuse.
5. Early Marriages: Early marriages lead to the poor reproductive health of women as well as early pregnancies that will deteriorate the reproductive and other body health, and the baby born can have lower chances of survival and weak immunity. Also, the infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate are very high in such cases.
6. Adolescence and reproductive health: Adolescence is the stage of transition of a child into an adult during which the body of a male and female undergo several psychological, emotional, and hormonal changes. Since sexual activities have a connection with hormonal changes and emotions, therefore the changes that take place in the adolescent can lead to sexual abuse, which further can deteriorate the reproductive health of a person.
7. Female foeticide: The killing of the foetus in the womb of the mother is called foeticide. Female foeticide is a social evil. An urge to get a male child supports this social evil in our society. Abortion adversely affects the reproductive health of a woman and causes deformities in the reproductive organs. Moreover, abortions can also cause hormonal imbalance and may lead to reproductive problems.

Fig: An Overview of Problems related to Reproductive Health

Strategies & Interventions to Improve Reproductive Health

India is amongst the 1^st countries in the world to initiate action plans and programmes at the national level to attain reproductive health as a social goal. At present, improved programmes in reproduction-related areas, popularly named Reproductive and Child Health Care (RCH) programmes. The following strategies need to be actively followed to improve reproductive health:

1. Family Planning: It is a practice of controlling the uncountable birth and also the interval between the birth of the first and next child. Since over-population has a direct connection to the declined reproductive health of females, the family planning programme was initiated in 1951 in India with the following objectives:
I. To be aware of the entire population of various aspects of reproductive health.
II. To maintain the total well-being of the reproductive organs.
III. Government and non-government agencies have taken various steps to be aware of the consequences of uncontrolled population growth and social evils like sex abuse, sex-related crimes etc.
2. Sex-Education: It is necessary to provide sex education to adolescents and married couples in a healthy way to maintain the good reproductive health of the present generation and future generations. Sex education should be given to save people from myths and misconceptions about sex-related issues.
3. Contraceptive Methods: Frequent pregnancies adversely affect the reproductive health of females. Different types of contraceptive methods and devices are used for birth control and hence to keep the female reproductively healthy. Therefore it is necessary that the fertile couple should have knowledge about the use of contraceptive devices and should also be known to know their advantages and disadvantages.
4. Medical Support and Care: Advanced medical technology and gynaecologist advice are necessary during pregnancies and for the treatment of sex-related problems such as polycystic ovaries, sexual hormone imbalance, irregular menstrual periods, less sperm count, infertility, etc. It is considered to be the most important intervention towards the improvement and maintenance of reproductive health.
5. Post-Parturition Care: There are several changes that take place in a female during the pregnancy period. The care and support are not only required during gestation but also required after parturition. Post parturition care is concerned for the mother and baby. It can be said that good prenatal and postnatal care is necessary to maintain reproductive health and to keep the reproductive organs healthy.
6. Prevention of Sex Abuse and Sex Related Crime: These are social evils that can be controlled by proper law and order as well as public awareness. This will build up a reproductively healthy society. The ban on child marriages and a strict law against it can reduce the issues related to mortality. Female foeticide is an example of a sex-related crime that has to be legally banned by keeping a check on amniocentesis.

Amniocentesis

Amniocentesis is a technique used to diagnose chromosomal abnormalities in the foetal by drawing a sample of amniotic fluid by a hypodermic needle inserted into the mother’s abdomen to the uterus.

Fig: Amniocentesis

Benefits of Amniocentesis

1. The technique helps to reconstruct the karyotype of an individual. This allows the detection of trisomies (extra chromosome), and monosomies (missing chromosome), and other structural defects in chromosomes.
2. The amniotic fluid is tested for the level of acetylcholinesterase, haemoglobin, etc.
3. It helps to detect neural tube defects and genetic disorders at an early stage of pregnancy.
4. Different types of metabolic disorders can be detected by this technique.

Why is Amniocentesis Banned?

Amniocentesis is performed to diagnose prenatal chromosomal abnormalities and foetal infections through the examination of amniotic fluid. The sex of a baby can also be determined by examining the amniotic fluid. After the sex determination, the female foetus, which would have been absolutely normal, is ruthlessly aborted or killed due to the strong desire of getting a male child. Therefore, the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act banned amniocentesis in India in 1994.

Summary

Good overall health can be maintained by keeping the well-being of all the aspects of the health. Reproductive health is one of the main aspects of the overall health of a person. A person can maintain good reproductive health by safe and hygienic sexual practices. Detailed knowledge about the problems related to reproductive health and the strategies to improve reproductive health are the keys to good reproductive health. The problems mainly include overpopulation, lack of sex education, sexual abuse, femicide, etc. and the strategies to overcome these problems include family planning, safe and hygienic sex, proper medical care before and after parturition, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Strategies to Maintain Reproductive Health

Q.1. What are the problems of reproductive health?
Ans: Overpopulation, lack of sex education, sexually transmitted diseases, early marriages, female foeticide, etc., are the problems related to reproductive health.

Q.2 Why is it important to maintain reproductive health?
Ans: Good reproductive health is important as it ensures safe and hygienic sex and the maintenance of a healthy reproductive system. Good reproductive health allows a person to reproduce and give birth to a healthy child.

Q.3. What are the two reproductive health issues related to females?
Ans: Menstruation and pregnancy-related issues are the two main reproductive health issues in females.

Q.4. What does amniocentesis test for?
Ans: An amniocentesis test is done to detect chromosomal abnormalities in the foetus.

Q.5. Is amniocentesis banned in India?
Ans: Amniocentesis was banned in India in 1994 under the Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act.

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