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Family planning: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Family planning
Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Factors that may influence family planning decisions include marital status, career or work considerations, or financial circumstances. If sexually active, family planning may involve the use of contraception and other techniques to control the timing of reproduction. Other aspects of family planning, aside from contraception, include sex education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and management, and infertility management. Family planning, as defined by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, encompasses services leading up to conception. Abortion is another form of family planning, although it is not a primary one. "Family planning" is sometimes used as a synonym or euphemism for access to and the use of contraception. However, it often involves methods and practices in addition to contraception. Additionally, many might wish to use contraception but are not necessarily planning a family (e.g., unmarried adolescents and young married couples delaying childbearing while building careers). "Family planning" has become a catch-all phrase for much of the work undertaken in this realm. However, contemporary notions of family planning tend to place a woman and her childbearing decisions at the center of the discussion, as notions of women's empowerment and reproductive autonomy have gained traction in many parts of the world. It is usually applied to a female-male couple who wish to limit the number of children they have or control pregnancy timing (also known as birth spacing). Family planning has been shown to reduce teenage birth rates and birth rates for unmarried women.
Health And Economic Benefits
In 2006, the US Centers for Disease Control issued a recommendation encouraging men and women to formulate a reproductive life plan. This advice aimed to help them avoid unintended pregnancies and improve the health of women while reducing adverse pregnancy outcomes. There are multiple benefits to family planning including spacing births for healthier pregnancies, thus decreasing risks of maternal morbidity, fetal prematurity and low birth weight. Childbirth and prenatal health care cost averaged $7,090 for normal delivery in the United States in 1996. U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that for a child born in 2007, a U.S. family will spend an average of $11,000 to $23,000 per year for the first 17 years of child's life. Total inflation-adjusted estimated expenditure ranges from $196,000 to $393,000 depending on household income. Investing in family planning has clear economic benefits and can also help countries to achieve their "demographic dividend". UNFPA says that "For every dollar invested in contraception, the cost of pregnancy-related care is reduced by $1.47." In the Copenhagen Consensus produced by Nobel laureates in collaboration with the UN, universal access to contraception ranks as the third-highest policy initiative in social, economic, and environmental benefits for every dollar spent. Providing universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and eliminating the unmet need for contraception will result in 640,000 fewer newborn deaths, 150,000 fewer maternal deaths and 600,000 fewer children who lose their mother. At the same time, societies will experience fewer dependents and more women in the workforce, driving faster economic growth. The costs of universal access to contraceptives will be about $3.6 billion/year, but the benefits will be more than $400 billion annually.
Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. It encompasses services leading up to conception such as contraception, sex education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling, infertility management, and abortion.
When were combined oral contraceptives introduced and how do modern methods work?
Combined oral contraceptives were introduced in 1960 and have played an instrumental role in family planning for decades. Modern methods include natural methods, chemical-based methods, behavioral methods like withdrawal and calendar-based techniques, long-acting reversible contraceptive methods such as intrauterine devices and implants, surgical methods like tubal ligation and vasectomy, and assisted reproductive technology.
How many governments provided direct support for family planning in 2013?
In 2013, 160 out of 197 governments provided direct support for family planning while twenty countries only provided indirect support through private sector or NGOs and seventeen governments did not support family planning. Direct government support continued to increase in developing countries from 82% in 1996 to 93% in 2013 but is declining in developed countries from 58% in 1976 to 45% in 2013.
What happened during China's one-child policy and when was it phased out?
China began enforcing a policy that forced couples to have no more than one child in 1979 and the policy was officially phased out in 2015. In 2015, China ended the one-child policy announcing that all married couples will be allowed to have two children and in 2021 Chinese officials announced that a Chinese couple can now have three children.
When did contraceptive usage triple in India between which years?
Contraceptive usage in India has more than tripled from 13% of married women in 1970 to 48% in 2009 during the period from 1965 to 2009. This growth may be inaccurate due to high disparities in education among Indian females and Indian states.
Combined oral contraceptives were introduced in 1960 and have played an instrumental role in family planning for decades. Modern methods of family planning include birth control, assisted reproductive technology and family planning programs. A number of contraceptive methods are available to prevent unwanted pregnancy. There are natural methods and various chemical-based methods, each with particular advantages and disadvantages. Behavioral methods to avoid pregnancy that involve vaginal intercourse include the withdrawal and calendar-based methods, which have little upfront cost and are readily available. Long-acting reversible contraceptive methods, such as intrauterine device (IUD) and implant are highly effective and convenient, requiring little user action, but do come with risks. When cost of failure is included, IUDs and vasectomy are much less costly than other methods. In addition to providing birth control, male and/or female condoms protect against sexually transmitted infections (STI). Condoms may be used alone, or in addition to other methods, as backup or to prevent STIs. Surgical methods (tubal ligation, vasectomy) provide long-term contraception for those who have completed their families. When, for any reason, a woman is unable to conceive by natural means, she may seek assisted conception. It is recommended to the couple to ask for reproductive counseling after one year of trying to conceive, or after six months of trying if the woman is more than 35 years old. Some families or women seek assistance through surrogacy, in which a woman agrees to become pregnant and deliver a child for another couple or person. Sperm donation is another form of assisted conception involving donated sperm being used to fertilise a woman's ova by artificial insemination.
Global Policy And Implementation
In 2013, 160 out of 197 governments provided direct support for family planning. Twenty countries only provided indirect support through private sector or NGOs. Seventeen governments did not support family planning. Direct government support has continued to increase in developing countries from 82% in 1996 to 93% in 2013, but is declining in developed countries from 58% in 1976 to 45% in 2013. Ninety-seven percent of Latin America and the Caribbean, 96% of Africa, and 94% of Oceania governments provided direct support for family planning. In Europe, only 45% of governments directly support family planning. Out of 172 countries with available data in 2012, 152 countries had implemented realistic measures to increase women's access to family planning methods from 2009 to 2014. The world's largest international source of funding for population and reproductive health programs is the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development set the main goals of its Program of Action as universal access to reproductive health services by 2015. The 2012 London Summit on Family Planning, hosted by the UK government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, affirmed political commitments and increased funds for the project. Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) is the result of the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning where more than 20 governments made commitments to address policy, financing, delivery, and socio-cultural barriers. The UNFPA says that "Some 225 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe and effective family planning methods." A report from the World Bank Group concluded that "for the most part, the family planning program 'experiment' worked: policy and program interventions contributed substantially to the revolutionary rise of contraceptive use and to the decline in fertility that has occurred in the developing world".
Human Rights And Coercion
Forced sterilization has occurred in recent years in Eastern Europe against Roma women, and in Peru during the 1990s against indigenous women. China's one-child policy was intended to limit the rise in population numbers, but in some situations and periods involved coercion like forced abortion and sterilisation. In areas where family-planning regulations were strictly enforced like Guangxi Province, 80% of trafficked babies were girls as parents were more likely to sell their baby girls on the black market than baby boys. According to an investigative report by The Associated Press published the 28th of June 2020, the Chinese government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uyghurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population. The ongoing oppression of the Uyghur people and the violence against their reproductive rights started in 2017 in the far west region of Xinjiang. Between 2015 and 2018, population growth in largely Uyghur areas fell by 84%. This decline is not only attributed to the splitting of couples, but also mass sterilization policies and forced IUD implantation. Between 2014 and 2018, the rate of IUD placements increased by more than 60% in Xinjiang, while it dropped in other areas of China. Historically, the capacity to control one's reproductive abilities has been unequally distributed across society. Long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs), including intrauterine devices and progestin implants, have been implemented to limit reproduction in communities of color, the lower socioeconomic class, and among individuals with intellectual disabilities. Multiple studies have reported disproportionate recommendations of LARCs to individuals from marginalized communities compared to white, high-income individuals. With the eugenics movement of the 20th century, 60,000 people were sterilized in 32 states across the US with state-sanctioned sterilizations peaking in 1930-40's.
Regional Case Studies
In 1979, China began enforcing a policy that forced couples to have no more than one child. The policy was officially phased out in 2015. In 2015, China ended the one-child policy, announcing that all married couples will be allowed to have two children. In 2021, Chinese officials announced that a Chinese couple can now have three children. Family planning in India is based on efforts largely sponsored by the Indian government. In the 1965, 2009 period, contraceptive usage has more than tripled from 13% of married women in 1970 to 48% in 2009. However, forecasted growth rate may be inaccurate due to high disparities in education among Indian females and Indian states. In Iran, while population grew at a rate of more than 3% per year between 1956 and 1986, the growth rate began to decline in the late 1980s and early 1990s after the government initiated a major population control program. By 2007 the growth rate had declined to 0.7 percent per year. In late July 2012, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described Iran's contraceptive services as "wrong" and Iranian authorities are slashing birth-control programs. In Ireland, the sale of contraceptives was illegal from 1935 until 1980 when it was legalized with strong restrictions. The resulting demographic dividend played a role in the economic boom in Ireland that began in the 1990s and ended abruptly in 2008. In Pakistan, in 2011 just one in five Pakistani women ages 15 to 49 uses modern birth control. Contraception is shunned under traditional social mores that are fiercely defended as fundamentalist Islam gains strength.