WiRED International Releases Family Planning Module
BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW AND BERNICE BORN
Family planning matters, and lately the issue is related to current news stories about the Zika virus. Because of a possible link between the Zika virus and birth abnormalities, the Associated Press reports that Latin American governments including Brazil and Colombia are asking women to avoid pregnancy, and Salvadoran authorities have advised women not to get pregnant until 2018.
A sudden and alarming relationship between Zika and severe birth defects makes family planning and related preventive health services even more important. WiRED International now offers a Family Planning module in English and Spanish for grassroots audiences. The module defines family planning, its purpose, its effect on the health of mothers and their offspring, and family planning options.
Family planning allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children, along with the spacing and timing of their births. The WiRED module explains the types, effectiveness and safety of birth control methods, both reversible and permanent, including intrauterine devices, hormonal methods, barrier methods, natural family planning and contraceptive sterilization.
WiRED stresses preventive health care through physical examinations, pregnancy testing and screening, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, birth control methods and education, outreach, counseling and referral. WiRED also encourages healthy behaviors for pregnant women, such as taking folic acid, maintaining a healthy diet and weight, staying physically active and avoiding tobacco, alcohol and drugs.
A woman’s ability to schedule her pregnancies has a direct impact on her health and well-being, as well as on the outcome of each pregnancy. WiRED believes that family planning affects the health of everyone in a family.