Nature does not always make perfect babies. Every pregnant woman has a 2 – 3% baseline risk of giving birth to a baby with a birth defect and/or mental disability. However, important health and lifestyle decisions could be made so that this risk does not increase. The potential for a healthy pregnancy really begins before conception.
Reproductive Health
Within the framework of WHO’s definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, “reproductive health addresses the reproductive processes, functions & system at all stages of life.”
Sexual Health
Sexual health is the integration of the somatic, emotional, intellectual, and social aspects of sexual being in ways that are positively enriching and that enhance personality, communication, and love.
The purposes of SH care should be the enhancement of life and personal relationship,s and not merely the counseling and care related to procreation or STDs.
Recent Progress in Promoting the Health of Women
The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), 1994, and the Declaration and Platform for Action from the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, September 1995, the Platform for Action of the Social Summit, Copenhagen, 1996.
The global conference on the 10-year review of the Safe Motherhood Initiative, Sri Lanka, 1997, concluded that, despite concerted efforts, little progress had been made worldwide in reducing maternal mortality and recommended specific investment and action, developing, among others, the new WHO Making Pregnancy Safer Initiative.
In 1997, 165 countries signed the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). CEDAW includes a reference to the ill health effects of gender discrimination.
Lifecycle Approach
v protecting unborn girls from prenatal sex selection, ensuring that infant girls receive the same vaccination coverage as their brothers, and ensuring that good food is distributed equally in households.
v protecting girls from sexual violence, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, STIs, and harmful traditional practices.
v promoting girls’ self-esteem and their capacity to develop their physical, mental, and emotional potential fully through equal access to education.
v Participation in sports and recreation is also an important prerequisite for women’s health.
Lifecycle Approach includes:
© Premarital care.
© Prenatal care.
© Natal care.
© Postnatal care.
© Birth control and Interconceptional care.
© Adolescence Care.
Experiences of violence or abuse, risky behaviors, access to health care and supportive relationships can either enhance or undermine teen health, as well as shape the quality of life in years to come. Access to health care during adolescence can play a key role in shaping a healthy life.