Reproductive Health & Rights

Antenatal care provides an opportunity to inform and educate pregnant women on a variety of issues related to pregnancy, birth and parenthood. The aim of this exercise is to equip them to make appropriate choices that will contribute to optimum pregnancy outcome and care of the newborn. This concept has made antenatal education programmes a standard component of antenatal care worldwide.

There has been controversy about the impact of antenatal education on pregnancy outcome. However, a recent synthesis of experience with information, education and communication (IEC) makes the point that it works. In other words, an appropriate strategy of IEC leads to or reinforces desirable attitudes and behaviour.

Educated women have better pregnancy outcome compared with uneducated women. This may be partly because they are better informed and make better choices. Literacy among women in many developing countries is low and there are socio-cultural beliefs and practices with adverse effects on pregnancy and birth even among educated women. The "Three Phases of Delay Model" highlights the importance of IEC in the prevention of maternal death by describing the sequence of events from late recognition of danger signs to maternal death. Therefore, an appropriate programme of health literacy or behaviour change communication is highly desirable.

Fanta Camara was 5 years old when she was subjected to genital mutilation. In the course of the cutting her urethra was severely damaged, as a consequence of which she became incontinent. She had to drop out of school as other students, who could not bear the smell of her incontinence, made fun of her. In the village she spent her time washing her clothes, which were repeatedly soiled by the ceaseless flow of urine. The same community that required her, in accordance with tradition, to undergo the process of genital mutilation, shunned her as a result of the harm it caused her. Her condition, compounded by lack of education, heralded a bleak future.

It is estimated that between 100-140 million girls and women worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). At the current rates of population increase and with the slow decline in these procedures, it is estimated that each year a further 2 million girls are at risk from the practice. Most of the women and girls affected live in 28 African countries, and a few in the Middle East and Asia. They are also increasingly found in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America, mostly among immigrants from countries where FGM is the tradition.

The National Cervical Screening Policy is a key part of the cervical screening pathway and states that routine Pap smears should be carried out every two years for women who have no history of abnormal pathology or no current symptoms. All women who have even been sexually active should start having Pap smears between the ages of 18 to 20 years, or one or two years after first sexual activity, whichever is later.

A termination of pregnancy is when a woman decides to end her pregnancy before its full term, by medical or surgical means. People often refer to a termination of pregnancy as an ‘abortion'.

The taking of a pap smear is a screening test provided to women to detect the early stages of what is called cervical cancer or in laymen's terms cancer of the "mouth of the womb". If early signs of cancer are detected, further investigations are done and treatment given where appropriate. The earlier cancer is treated, the more likely the chances are of recovery.

Induced abortion is a safe medical procedure when carried out by skilled practitioners in hygienic environments. In places with restrictive abortion laws, untrained providers, unsanitary conditions and limited access to high quality abortion services, women are much more likely to experience immediate complications, longterm disabilities or sometimes death.

According to a new study published this week in Breast Cancer Research, daily aspirin use appears to slightly reduce the risk of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, the most common type of breast cancer. However, the current evidence isn't strong enough to suggest women take aspirin as a preventative measure, and experts caution against regular use of the painkiller for this purpose, warning it can cause serious gastrointestinal bleeding.

Feminisation and pauperisation together with an increased concentration of AIDS cases in urban environments are the main characteristics of the HIV and AIDS epidemics in Argentina. Increased infection of HIV among poor young child-bearing women generates an increase in the demand for public health care and services. Although the country has had a legal framework guaranteeing reproductive health services and HIV/AIDS programmes has denied women living with HIV (WLWH) access to adequate health care, particularly for their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs. Additionally, WLWH's access to information on reproductive health, family planning services, control of cervival cancer, STIs and other gynaecological problems is limited.

The purpose of the study was to identify and describe perceptions of HIV positive Swazi women on childbearing. Specifically the study assessed their level of knowledge on mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) and its prevention, established the extent of contribution they have on reproductive decision-making, and ascertained their opinions of reproductive health services.