Reproductive Health
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), Reproductive health is total well-being in all aspects of reproduction i.e., physical, emotional, behavioural and social.
Reproductive Health Problems And Strategies: India initiated reproductive health programmes (family planning) in 1951. Wider reproduction-related areas are in operation under the Reproductive and Child Health Care (RCH) programmes. Such programmes deal the following:
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Class 12 Reproductive Health Notes
- Give awareness about reproduction-related aspects for creating a reproductively healthy society.
- Educate people about birth control, care of pregnant mothers, post-natal care of mother and child, the importance of breastfeeding, equal opportunities for male and female children etc.
- Awareness of problems due to population explosion, social evils like sex abuse and sex-related crimes, etc.
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Aims and needs of sex education in schools
- To provide right information about sex-related aspects. It helps to avoid sex-related myths and misconceptions.
- To give proper information about reproductive organs, adolescence and related changes, safe and hygienic sexual practices, sexually transmitted diseases (STD), AIDS etc.
Population Explosion And Birth Control
In 1900, the world population was around 2 billion (2000 million). By 2000, it rocketed to about 6 billion. In India, population was nearly 350 million at the time of independence. It crossed 1 billion in May 2000. It means every sixth person in the world is an Indian. According to the 2001 census report, our population growth rate was still around 1.7% (i.e. 17/1000/year), a rate at which our population could double in 33 years.
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- Reasons for population explosion
- Increased health facilities and better living conditions.
- Rapid decline in death rate, maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR).
- Increase in number of people in reproducible age.
- Impacts of population explosion Scarcity of basic requirements (for example, food, shelter and clothing).
- Population explosion Control measures
- Motivate smaller families by using contraceptive methods.
- Aware peoples of the slogan Hum Do HamareDo (we two, our two). Many couples have adopted a ‘one child norm’.
- Statutory rising of marriageable age of females (18 years) and males (21 years).
- Properties of an ideal contraceptive
- User-friendly, easily available, effective and reversible.
- No or least side-effects.
- It should not interfere with sexual drive, desire and sexual act.
Population Explosion Contraceptive Methods
Reproductive Health Class 12 Notes For Neet
1. Natural/Traditional methods: Avoid chances of ovum and sperms meeting. It includes
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- Periodic abstinence: Avoid coitus from days 10 to 17 of the menstrual cycle (fertile period) to prevent conception.
- Coitus interruptus (withdrawal): Withdraw penis from the vagina just before ejaculation to avoid insemination.
- Lactational amenorrhea: It is the prevention of conception by breastfeeding the child because ovulation and the cycle do not occur during the period of lactation. This is effective up to 6 months following parturition. It has no side effects. But chances of failure are high.
2. Barriers: They prevent physical meeting of sperm and ovum. Example,
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- Condoms (Example, Nirodh): Made of rubber/latex sheath.
- Condoms for male: Cover the penis.
- Condoms for female: Cover the vagina and cervix. Condoms are used just before coitus. They prevent the entry of semen into female reproductive tract.
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Condoms are very popular because: It protects the user from STDs and AIDS.
- Easily available.
- It is disposable.
- It can be self-inserted and thereby give privacy to user.
Diaphragms, cervical caps and vaults:
- Made of rubber and are inserted into the female reproductive tract to cover the cervix during coitus.
- They block the entry of sperm through the cervix.
- They are reusable.
- Spermicidal creams, jellies and foams are used along with these barriers to increase contraceptive efficiency.
3. Intra Uterine Devices (IUDs): These are inserted by doctors or nurses in the uterus through vagina. They increase the phagocytosis of sperms.
Reproductive Health Class 12 Notes For Neet
Types of IUDs:
- Non-medicated IUDs: They retard sperm motility. Also, it has a spermicidal effect. Example, Lippes loop.
- Copper-releasing IUDs: Cu ions suppress the motility and fertilising capacity of sperms. Example, CuT, Cu7, Multiload375.
- Hormone-releasing IUDs: They make the uterus unsuitable for implantation and the cervix hostile to the sperm. Example, Progestasert, LNG-20. IUDs are ideal contraceptives for females who want to delay pregnancy or space children.
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4. Oral contraceptives: Oral administration of progestogens or progestogen-estrogen combinations in the form of tablets (pills).
- Pills are taken daily for 21 days starting within the first five days of menstrual cycle. After a gap of 7 days (menstruation period), it should be repeated in the same pattern till the female desires to prevent conception.
- They inhibit ovulation and implantation and thicken cervical mucus to prevent entry of sperm. Pills are very effective with lesser side effects.
- Saheli: New oral contraceptive for females. It is developed by the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) in Lucknow. It contains a non-steroidal preparation. It is a ‘once a week’ pill with very few side effects and high contraceptive value.
5. Injectables Progestogens or Progestogens-oestrogen combination are used by females as injections or implants under the skin.
Their mode of action is like that of pills and their effective periods are much longer. Progestogens or progestogen-oestrogen combinations and IUDs are used as emergency contraceptives within 72 hours of coitus. It avoids pregnancy due to rapeor casual intercourse.
Reproductive Health Class 12 Notes For Neet
6. Surgical methods (sterilization) It helps to block gamete transport and thereby prevents conception. It is very effective but reversibility is poor.
- Vasectomy: Sterilization procedure in males. In this, a small part of the vas deferens is removed or tied up through a small incision on the scrotum.
- Tubectomy: Sterilization procedure in females. In this, a small part of the fallopian tube is removed or tied up through a small incision in the abdomen or through vagina.
Side effects of anti-natural contraceptives: Nausea, abdominal pain, breakthrough bleeding, irregula menstrual bleeding, breast cancer etc.
Medical Termination Of Pregnancy
Intentional or voluntary termination of pregnancy before full term is called MTP or induced abortion. 45 to 50 million MTPs are performed in a year all over the world (i.e. 175th of total number of conceived pregnancies).
MTP helps to decrease the population. Many countries have not legalised MTP due to emotional, ethical, religious and social issues. Government of India legalised MTP in 1971 with some strict conditions to check illegal female foeticides.
Importance of MTP: To avoid unwanted pregnancies due to casual intercourse or failure of the contraceptive used during coitus or rapes.
It is essential in cases where the continuation of pregnancy could be harmful to the mother to the foetus or both. MTPs are safe during the first trimester, (up to 12 weeks of pregnancy). 2nd-trimester abortions are very risky.
Problems related with MTPs: Majority of the MTPs are performed illegally. Misuse of amniocentesis (a foetal sex determination test based on the chromosomal pattern of foetal cells in the amniotic fluid). If the foetus is female, it is followed by MTP. Such practices are dangerous for the young mother and foetus.
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Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Diseases transmitted through sexual intercourse are called Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)/Venereal diseases (VD) or Reproductive tract infections (RTI). Example, Gonorrhoea, syphilis, genital herpes, chlamydiasis, genital warts, trichomoniasis, hepatitis-B and HIV leading to AIDS.
- Hepatitis B and HIV are also transmitted
- By sharing of injection needles, surgical instruments etc.
- By transfusion ofblood.
- From infected mother to foetus.
- Except hepatitis-B, genital herpes & HIV, other diseases are completely curable ifdetected early and treated properly.
- Early symptoms: Itching, fluid discharge, slight pain, swellings, etc. in the genital region.
- Absence or less significant early symptoms and the social stigma deter the infected persons from consulting a doctor. This leads to pelvic inflammatory diseases (PID), infertility, ectopic pregnancies, abortions, stillbirths, cancer of the reproductive tract etc.
- All persons are vulnerable to STDs. These are very high among persons in the age group of 15-24 years.
- Prevention: Avoid sex with unknown partners/multiple partners.
Always use condoms during coitus. In case of doubt, go to a qualified doctor for early detection and get complete treatment.
Biology Reproduction In Organisms Class 12
Infertility
It is the inability to conceive or produce children even after 2 years of unprotected sexual cohabitation. The reasons for this may be physical, congenital, diseases, drugs, immunological or even psychological.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Art): These are the technologies used to correct infertility problems. Some of them are given below:
1. In vitro fertilisation (IVF) or Test tube baby programme: In this method, ova from the wife/donor and sperms from the husband/donor are collected and are induced to form zygote under simulated conditions in the laboratory. This is followed by Embryo transfer (ET). ET is 2 types:
- Zygote Intra Fallopian Transfer (ZIFT): Transfer of zygote or early embryo (with up to 8 blastomeres) into fallopian tube.
- Intra Uterine Transfer (IUT): Transfer of embryo with more than 8 blastomeres into the uterus. The embryo formed by in vivo fertilisation (fertilisation within the female) is also used for such transfer to assist those females who cannot conceive.
2. Gamete Intra Fallopian Transfer (GIFT): Transfer of an ovum from a donor into the fallopian tube of another female who cannot produce an ovum, but can provide suitable environment for fertilization and development.
Biology Reproduction In Organisms Class 12
3. Intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI): It is a laboratory procedure in which a single sperm (from male partner) is injected directly into an egg (from a female partner). After fertilization, the embryo is implanted into the woman’s uterus.
4. Artificial insemination (AI) technique: The semen collected from husband or a donor is artificially introduced into the vagina or the uterus of the female. Artificial insemination into the uterus is known as intra¬uterine insemination (IUI). This technique is useful for the male partner having an inability to inseminate female or low sperm counts etc.
5. Surrogacy: Here, a woman (surrogate mother) bears a child for a couple unable to produce children, because the wife is infertile or unable to carry. The surrogate is impregnated through artificial insemination or implantation of an embryo produced by IVF.
Problems of ART It requires specialized professionals and expensive instrumentation. Therefore, these facilities are available only in very few centres. o Emotional, religious and social problems. legal adoption is a good method for couples looking for parenthood.
