Definition and Health Aspects of Family Planning

Definition of Family Planning

According to the WHO's definition from 1971, "Family planning is the way of thinking and living that is adopted voluntarily, on the basis of knowledge, attitude, and responsible decisions by individuals and couples in order to promote the health and welfare of the family group and thereby effectively contribute to the social development of the country."

Health Aspects of Family Planning

• Women's empowerment and gender equality
• Fetal well-being
• Child and infant health

Women's Health and Women's Empowerment

Family planning has a negative impact on health primarily due to:

• Synchronizing the births, especially the first and final in light of the mother's age.
• Limiting births and ensuring appropriate spacing.
• Preventing unintended pregnancy.

Preventing Unwanted Births

• Preventing unwanted pregnancies is the main goal of family planning. One of the most dangerous outcomes of an unintended pregnancy is an induced abortion, which is one of the healthiest outcomes of an unintended pregnancy. Another is abortion outside of a medical setting, or "criminal abortion." especially on unwed mothers, who have greater health risks. Additionally, there is evidence that mothers who had unwanted pregnancies have a higher incidence of mental disorders.

Limiting Births and Ensuring Adequate Spacing

• A woman's risk of material death and morbidity rises with each subsequent pregnancy. With each pregnancy after the third, the risk rises and becomes much higher with each pregnancy after the fifth. Instances of uterine rupture, uterus atony, toxaemia, placenta previa, and anemia are frequent issues for mothers who have multiple children.

Timing of Births

• Mothers are typically more likely to pass away before the age of 20 and after the age of 30-35.

Foetal Health

With the aid of family planning, couples can prevent unintended births that would otherwise result in genetic defects, such as Down's Syndrome because of growing mother age. Family planning encouraged spacing the pregnancies by more than two years because low birth weight infants who are the result of premature birth or inadequate foetal nutrition are less likely to grow well, more likely to get sick, and four times more likely to die in their first year of life than babies of normal weight.

Intant and Child Health

Family planning is related to paediatrics, it would seem that family size and birth spacing. In family planning practised by all, these are benefits:

• Child mortality
  • An interval between births of roughly two to three years is thought to lower child mortality; as a result, family planning is crucial to the survival of all the children in a family.
• Birth spacing and family size are significant determinants in a child's growth and development, as well as their nutrition. When the family is small and the children are born at regular intervals, the youngster is more likely to receive his fair share of love and attention, including the nutrition he requires. In other words, family planning is a powerful defense against starvation.
• Children in large families are more susceptible to infections and infectious diseases, particularly gastroenteritis, respiratory infections, and skin infections.
• Intelligence
  • According to studies, kids from big families have lower IQ scores.