DEPARTMENT: COMMUNITY MEDICINE
FACULTY : CLINIC
MEDICINE
COURSE CODE: PUH
831
COURSE TITLE: REPRODUCTIVE
AND FAMILY HEALTH
HIGHLIGHTS
INTRODUCTION
MATERNAL HEALTH
CHILD HEALTH
FAMILY PLANNING
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of evaluation is to help a programme
achieve its objective. It is a continuous process that are based on routine
monitoring of key indicators of performance Evaluation of the Family Health programme
is therefore the evaluation of the key components of the family health
services.
The
components of the family health service include:
* The maternal health
* Child health
* Family planning
Maternal Health
Maternal
health is one of the components of family health system
The main objective of family health
is to ensure that the pregnant mother:
- Remain healthy throughout pregnancy.
- have healthy babies and
- Recover
fully from the physiological changes that take place during pregnancy and
delivery.
Complications of pregnancy, and child birth are the
major causes of death among women of reproductive age in many developing
countries. Maternal mortality rates are more than 50 times higher in developing
countries than in developed countries. Maternal death is the death of a woman
while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy regardless of the
site of duration of that pregnancy.
The maternal mortality ratio per
100,000 in Africa with Nigeria inclusive is 640, in East Asia. It is 50 per
100,000 and in developed countries 20 per 100,000.
The major causes of death are
haemonhage, obstructed labour, sepsis, eclampsia and abortions.
About 40% of women experience
complications during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperal, 15% of this
number develops potentially life-threatening problems.
In Nigeria maternal mortality rate
ranges form 10-16 per 1000 live births. In many countries, maternal mortality
comprises of 25% of all deaths of women of reproductive ages.
CHILD HEALTH
Child health is the second component of the family
health. In the past decades there has been tremendous improvement in the health
of children throughout the world.
The WHO and UNICEF spearheaded child
survival programmes that made significant contributions that lead to the fall
in child mortality rates in most developing countries. The first five years is
the most critical period in the life of the child.
In the developed countries, the
under five mortality rate is below 10 per 1000 live birth but in the developing
countries the rates are over 100 per 1000. The under five mortality in Africa
is 4.6 million. 7o% of child death in Africa is due to infection e.g malaria,
malnutrition, acute respiratory disease, diamheoea pneumonia etc.
The objectives of child health
include the following:
- Reduction of prenatal and early neonatal
mortality rate
- Detection
of at risk newborns with emphasis on early diagnosis.
- Protection
of child from major hazards through immunization, chemoprophylaxes and dietary
supplements.
In Nigeria, the infant mortality
rate is about 80-110 per 1000.
The infant mortality rate is an
important index of child health and it is also an important tool in the
measurement of the socio-economic prognoses of a country.
Family planning
This is the third component of family health service.
Family planning is a process of encouraging couples to take responsible
decision about pregnancy.
The
objectives of family planning include the following:
To
prevent unwanted pregnancy
To
secure desired pregnancy
To
limit the size of the family
To
space pregnancies
To
achieve the desired sex of baby
Family
planning promotes the concept of responsible parenthood which encourages couple
to have children by choice not by chance. Family planning programmes are
designed to promote the reproductive health of women and to meet the needs of
women in general.
Family planning pragrammes if they are well
implemented reduces maternal mortality and morbidity by
- preventing unwanted pregnancies and
high risk pregnancies.
- protecting
grand multifarious women who has achieved desired family size from further
pregnancies.
- Sexually
active teenagers are protected from unwanted pregnancies and sexually
transmitted diseases.
- Women
with serious medical conditions are protected from further pregnancies which
may aggravate their conditions.
- promotes child spacing in the
interest of the family,
CONCLUSION
Maternal health, child health and
family planning programmes aim at reducing the risk of pregnancy and child birth
also reduces maternal mortality rate and childhood mortality rate. One of the
most important ways of improving the health of women and children is by
reducing the number of pregnancies and spacing child birth.