Unlocking Women's Potential: The Need for Family Planning in Developing Regions - Essay Sample

Introduction

Family planning is essential not only for human rights issues but also for empowering women, poverty diminution and development that is sustainable. Nevertheless, in regions that are developing, due to lack of services and information and communities and partners support, about 214 million women still do not have effective and safe family planning techniques. It intimidates their capability to construct a future that is better for their communities, their families and themselves.

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Planning of a family is a decision-making process that determines the number of children a couple wants in their lives, including the difference of ages of children, individually or together. This, therefore, points out that couples equally have the same right to determine future fertility rates.

When planning for children in the future, partners should have access to information that is accurate to understand how and when to obtain and apply the method of preference devoid of forcing the type on them. These programs help children and mothers to get pleasure from the reimbursement of childbirth and premeditated pregnancy. Family planning is amongst the central approaches for improving life in a family setting and wellbeing, curbing unnecessary population growth, and supporting national development (Sanger, 2012).

Advocates of women's health for fertility regulation are based on their experiences as women and with other women. They set the agenda based on at least three basic assumptions. Women have the right not only to control fertility but also to control sex (Muller, 1974). It is necessary not only to improve technology and distribution systems but also the situation of women to exercise this right. With the right information and services, women can make reasonable decisions about fertility and sexuality.

Advocates for women's health and scientists are looking for safe and effective ways. However, the relative weights assigned to each criterion are very different. Overall, women's health advocates focus on ways to minimize the risks of contraception. Scientists are emphasizing ways to minimize the rate of contraceptive failure within certain acceptable safety parameters. These two goals are not always compatible - both present difficulties for women trying to determine birth rules.

What are the special circumstances that a woman who wants to use contraception faces?

Among the many considerations are the woman's personal situation (for example, her health, sexual relations, and economic status), the social conditions that influence her sexual and reproductive choices, her health and her family (Muller, 1974). The availability and quality of the planning service, as well as the fertility treatments currently available, and as her views and experiences on these methods are also taken into consideration.

Adaptability includes many factors such as cost (for both women and providers), ease of use and ease of delivery. Determining the applicability of a method requires a wide range of information that rarely exists, including information about sexual behaviour, family-to-family power relations, social norms and values ( Nazli et. al., 2018).

Engaging in sexual intercourse using or not using contraceptives, pregnancy, miscarriage and childbirth: it is dangerous work for health, especially for low-income women in southern countries. But what are the risks of each activity? How are these risks compared? Researchers and practitioners of health and family planning use estimates of "relative risk" to guide their decisions. Policies are then developed considering those risks in relation to pregnancy or childbirth, to determine who should receive the services and advocate for specific contraceptive methods.

Birth risks of women in different situations

Health and family planning professionals use risk assessments to identify women who may have significant medical difficulties during pregnancy or childbirth. In general, they are labelled as being in high-risk. Women under 15 and over 40, women who already have many children and newborns or women with health problems such as malaria, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure fall under this category (Nazli et. al., 2018). These assessments are designed to provide effective contraception to high-risk groups of non-pregnant women and to monitor those pregnant for special treatments and recommendations if needed.

There is no doubt that women face different risks of pregnancy and childbirth. This information is important for the understanding and evaluation of health professionals. However, according to these definitions, most women who die as a result of pregnancy, miscarriage or childbirth are not classified as high-risk women. Special treatment for high-risk women is, therefore, not the most effective way to reduce maternal mortality. The implementation of risk techniques in southern countries often does not predict about 75% of all maternal deaths (Nazli et. al., 2018).

Most problems of pregnancy or childbirth are unpredictable, especially before pregnancy. By providing better primary care for all women, including basic prenatal care and childbirth assistance, more deaths can be prevented.

Between one-quarter and one-half of maternal deaths due to unsafe abortions in countries where abortions are subject to legal restrictions, it is dangerous and impossible. However, under safe conditions, few women die from abortions that are exercised early, use of contraceptives, the use of intrauterine devices, ligation the fallopian tubes, giving birth to children or even engaging in sex. For example, in the United States, the risk of death from an abortion of less than 9 weeks of pregnancy is estimated at 1 in 400,000 compared to 1 maternal death per 10,000 births, 1 in 16,000 smokers who use pills (Allen et. al., 2017), 1 in 20,000 for laparoscopic tubal ligation, 1 in 50,000 women who have died from sexual intercourse (cause of death being sexually transmitted pelvic inflammatory diseases) and 1 in 63,000 non-smokers who use pills and IUD users were 1 in 100,000 (Allen et. al., 2017).

Safe abortion is a technically viable and cost-effective way of reducing maternal mortality in some groups as eliminating fertility in all women in high-risk groups.

The risk of death by pregnancy or childbirth depends on the woman's socio-economic standing and admittance to a health check. In the early 1980s, in some parts of Africa, women faced almost one chance in 20 of dying due to maternal causes (abortion included) during their reproductive years, whereas women in northern Europe risked only one chance in 10,00. In particular, policies aimed at extending primary health care in rural areas to low-income groups will reduce maternal mortality compared to policies aimed at introducing high-risk women into more formal health facilities. Policies can be effective and provide appropriate care if they encompass all women.

Many women in the high-risk category want to have children and are not suitable for contraception. A more effective strategy for providing services of family planning is meeting the needs of women who do not yearn to become pregnant but whose family planning services are inadequate. These include young single sexually active women who are trying to avoid pregnancy, women who are dissatisfied with current contraceptives, and women who need to end an unwanted pregnancy and who need services that are safe.

Ways Women Weigh the Different Alternatives

Unmanaged productiveness may be explained by an instance that a couple or an individual is unable to map the prospective size of their family based on the family's economic level. Consequently, the production rates in countries which are developing are generally higher compared to developed countries. Because of high fertility, poor general health, and inadequate medical services, the risk of pregnancy in Africa is elevated in consideration to anywhere in the world.

A high fertility rate poses the uppermost possibility of demise for offspring below five, with African families often having difficulty providing adequate diets and health services to all children. As a result, children are prone to malnutrition and severe infections which are the most common cause of death among children under five. In sub-Saharan Africa, 140 children under five die per 1,000 live births and in Ethiopia 127 (Astrup, 2016). In most cases, states with high birth tolls tend to have higher maternal and infant mortality rates than countries with lower birth rates.

Population and Environment

In most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia, population growth that is rapid, production is low on agricultural and environmental damages are common performances. People tend to live in situations that are crowded on clustered areas, and the demand for agriculture, pastures, forests for fuels and architectural structures is increasing, resulting in extensive and rapid deforestation and soil erosion.

The main goal of family planning is to reduce births and deaths. Indeed, excessive fertility is one of the factors influencing population growth. States where the rate of birth is higher compared to the rate of death, the population is growing rapidly( Stycos, 2017). The current population in Africa is experiencing this.

With rapid population growth, the demand for food, school, work and health is moreover rising. A good number of African countries by now have a population growth rate that is very high, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia, where it is estimated at 3% per year. As a result, these countries providing enough food for all members of the existing population, making schools, jobs and health services is very difficult.

Socio-Economic Advantages

Family planning decreases women's wellbeing risks and presents them with additional power over their reproductive lives. Women can manage their lives and health better and gain from employment, education, and prospects for citizens. Usually, family settings with fewer brood can enable them to go to school and girls can attain higher education, which often delays the age of first marriage and decreases the age of childbirth.

Moreover, benefits from becoming an employee. In addition, if parents can limit the size of their family, it is not difficult for children to wear clothes and eat comfortably from provisions of their parents. They can save more money and be self-reliant because the cost of caring for a small family is reduced.

In terms of social services, government and household investments will decline if the household and population are small. This saves the necessary resources and contributes to the overall economic growth of the country. In general, the majority of families being self-reliant, productive, healthy and highly educated can make a significant contribution to the country's sustainable growth (Frost, 2014). The economic and social benefits of the family are essential; therefore, in this light.

Advantages of Maternal Health

Contraceptive utilization prevents unintended and high-risk pregnancies, reduces the number of unsafe abortions, and trims down maternal death thus progresses women's wellbeing. Moreover, a number of contraceptives advance the health of women by dropping the risk of transmission of diseases and preventing certain health problems and cancers.

Avoids Births That Are Excessively Early or Late

Family planning assists prevent mothers from becoming pregnant because they are young or are aged. Young mothers are at a much higher risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension. Alternatively, mothers who are older and who have delivered more than five kids tend to rapture the uterus at birth, which may be grounds for shock and severe vaginal bleeding. In the absence of an emergency obstetric care facility, the two penalties of thi...