Reproductive Health: Health Facts

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You may be surprised to learn about some health issues that affect millions of women or girls each year. Learn about some of them and what you can do. Asthma occurs more often in women than men, but more often in boys than girls. Older adults, women, and African Americans are more likely to die due to asthma. Heavy menstrual bleeding , lasting more than seven days, affects more than 10 million American women each year.

That is about one out of every five women. A bleeding disorder may be the cause of heavy menstrual bleeding. About 27 million women in the U.

The most common cause of disability for women is arthritis or rheumatism. Infertility is defined as not being able to get pregnant after one year of unprotected sex. Bacterial vaginosis BV is the most common vaginal infection in women ages years.

BV is a condition caused when too much of certain bacteria changes the normal balance of bacteria in the vagina. Sex Trafficking is a serious public health problem that affects the well-being of individuals, families, and communities. The majority of victims are women and girls. The number of overdose deaths from opioids among women has increased substantially. Women are more likely to have chronic pain, be prescribed opioid pain relievers, and use them for longer time periods than men. In CDC celebrates 30 years having an office dedicated to reducing health disparities and pursuing health equity.

We believe this mission is possible and that we can achieve healthy lives for everyone. Learn more about health equity and public health agents of change. Skip directly to search Skip directly to A to Z list Skip directly to navigation Skip directly to page options Skip directly to site content. Get Email Updates To receive email updates about this page, enter your email address: Submit Button Past Emails. One argument against birth control usage states that there is no need for birth control to begin with.

Such policies consider that coercion is an acceptable means of reaching demographic targets. Religious objections are based on the view that premarital sex should not happen, while married couples should have as many children as possible.

As such, the Catholic Church encourages premarital abstinence from sex. Support for contraception is based on views such as reproductive rights , women's rights , and the necessity to prevent child abandonment and child poverty.

Reproductive health

A Sexually transmitted infection STI --previously known as a sexually transmitted disease STD or venereal disease VD -- is an infection that has a significant likelihood of transmission between humans by means of sexual activity. There are more than million cases of STI's worldwide and more than 20 million new cases within the United States. However, the study concluded that the United States has led to an excess in infections, treatment costs, and deaths, even when interventions do not improve over all survival rates.

There is a profound reduction on STI rates once those who are sexually active are educated about transmissions, condom promotion, interventions targeted at key and vulnerable populations through a comprehensive Sex education courses or programs. The policy also promotes screening activities related to sexual health such as HIV counseling and testing as well as testing for other STIs, tuberculosis, cervical cancer, and breast cancer.

Globally, an estimated 25 million unsafe abortions occur each year. The abortion debate is the ongoing controversy surrounding the moral, legal, and religious status of induced abortion. Articles from the World Health Organization call legal abortion a fundamental right of women regardless of where they live, and argue that unsafe abortion is a silent pandemic.

In , it was estimated that million abortions had complications, some complications are permanent, while another estimated 68, women died from unsafe abortions. It is hard to get an abortion due to legal and policy barriers, social and cultural barriers gender discrimination, poverty, religious restrictions, lack of support etc. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to: The General comment No.

Thus, restrictions on the ability of women or girls to seek abortion must not, inter alia, jeopardize their lives, subject them to physical or mental pain or suffering which violates article 7, discriminate against them or arbitrarily interfere with their privacy. States parties must provide safe, legal and effective access to abortion where the life and health of the pregnant woman or girl is at risk, and where carrying a pregnancy to term would cause the pregnant woman or girl substantial pain or suffering, most notably where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or is not viable.

States parties should not introduce new barriers and should remove existing barriers [11] that deny effective access by women and girls to safe and legal abortion [12], including barriers caused as a result of the exercise of conscientious objection by individual medical providers. When negotiating the Cairo Programme of Action at the International Conference on Population and Development ICPD , the issue was so contentious that delegates eventually decided to omit any recommendation to legalize abortion, instead advising governments to provide proper post-abortion care and to invest in programs that will decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies.

In , the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , a group comprising members from 47 European countries, has adopted a resolution calling for the decriminalization of abortion within reasonable gestational limits and guaranteed access to safe abortion procedures. The nonbinding resolution was passed on April 16 by a vote of to Accesses to abortion is not only a question of legality, but also an issue of overcoming de facto barriers , such as conscientious objections from medical stuff, high prices, lack of knowledge about the law, lack of access to medical care especially in rural areas.

The de facto inability of women to access abortion even in countries where it is legal is highly controversial because it results in a situation where women have rights only on paper not in practice; the UN in its resolution on Intensification of efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: There are two primary arguments for maintaining legalized abortion today in the U. The first is recognizing the full citizenship of women. Wade court case on abortion compared the citizenship of women and fetuses [57] Because the Constitution defines born people as citizens, Justice Harry Blackmun ruled that fetuses were not citizens.

The second primary argument to uphold legalized abortion and creating better access to it is the necessity of abortion and the health and safety of pregnant women. The first is Sherry Finkbine, who was denied access to an abortion by the board of obstetrician-gynecologists at her local hospital. The other event that changed public opinion was the outbreak of rubella in the s and 60s.

Because rubella disrupted the growth of fetuses and caused deformities during pregnancy, the California Therapeutic Abortion Act was signed in Another argument in favor of legalized abortion to service necessity are the reasons why an abortion might be necessary. Nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, and over half of all unintended pregnancies in the United States are met with abortion.

Seven Things You May Not Know about Women's Health

These factors as threats to the health and safety of pregnant women run parallel to data that shows the number of abortions in the United States did not decline while laws restricting legal access to abortion were implemented. At a global level, the region with the strictest abortion laws is considered to be Latin America see Reproductive rights in Latin America , a region strongly influenced by the Catholic Church in Latin America.

Female genital mutilation FGM , also known as female genital circumcision or cutting, is the traditional, non-medical practice of altering or injuring the female reproductive organs, often by removing all or parts of the external genitalia. FGM often takes the form of a traditional celebration conducted by an elder or community leader.

The age that women undergo the procedure varies depending on the culture, although it is most commonly performed on prepubescent girls. Certain cultures value FGM as coming of age ritual for girls, and use it to preserve a woman's virginity and faithfulness to the husband after marriage. It is also closely connected with some traditional ideals of female beauty and hygiene.

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There are no health benefits of FGM, as it interferes with the natural functions of a woman's and girls' bodies, such as causing severe pain, shock, hemorrhage, tetanus or sepsis bacterial infection , urine retention, open sores in the genital region and injury to nearby genital tissue, recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, cysts, increased risk of infertility, childbirth complications and newborn deaths. Sexual problems are 1. In addition, the maternal and fetal death rate is significantly higher due to childbirth complications.

FGM can have severe negative psychological effects on women, both during and after the procedure. These can include long-term symptoms of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and low self-esteem. A study found that larger quantities of the hormone cortisol were secreted in women who had undergone FGM, especially those who had experienced more severe forms of the procedure and at an early age.

This marks the body's chemical response to trauma and stress, and can indicate a greater risk for developing symptoms of PTSD and other trauma disorders, although there are limited studies showing a direct correlation. Legislation has been introduced in certain countries to prevent FGM. A survey of 30 countries showed 24 had policies to manage and prevent FGM, although the process to provide funding, education, and resources were often inconsistent and lacking.

Some countries have seen a slight decline in FGM rates, while others show little to no change. The practice of forcing young girls into early marriage, common in many parts of the world, is threatening their reproductive health.

According to the World Health Organization: The female spouse often lacks the status and the knowledge to negotiate for safe sex and contraceptive practices, increasing the risk of acquiring HIV or other sexually transmitted infections, as well as the probability of pregnancy at an early age. Niger has the highest prevalence of child marriage under 18 in the world, while Bangladesh has the highest rate of marriage of girls under age Delegations from States took part in negotiations to finalize a Programme of Action on population and development for the next 20 years. Some 20, delegates from various governments, UN agencies, NGOs , and the media gathered for a discussion of a variety of population issues, including immigration , infant mortality , birth control , family planning , and the education of women.

Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this last condition are the right of men and women to be informed [about] and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of birth control which are not against the law, and the right of access to appropriate health-care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant.

Seven Things You May Not Know about Women's Health | Features | CDC

The Program of Action endorses a new strategy which emphasizes the numerous linkages between population and development and focuses on meeting the needs of individual women and men rather than on achieving demographic targets. The keys to this new approach are empowering women, providing them with more choices through expanded access to education and health services, and promoting skill development and employment.

The programme advocates making family planning universally available by or sooner, as part of a broadened approach to reproductive health and rights, provides estimates of the levels of national resources and international assistance that will be required, and calls on governments to make these resources available.

Reproductive health was Goal 5 out of 8. To monitor the progress, the UN agreed to four indicators: All 17 goals are comprehensive in nature and build off one another, but goal 3 is "To ensure health lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages". Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected world region for prevalence of HIV, especially among young women. In most African countries, the total fertility rate is very high, [81] often due to lack of access to contraception and family planning, and practices such as forced and child marriage. Niger, Angola, Mali, Burundi and Somalia have very high fertility rates.

The updated contraceptive guidelines in South Africa attempt to improve access by providing special service delivery and access considerations for sex workers, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals, migrants, men, adolescents, women who are perimenopausal, have a disability, or chronic condition. They also aim to increase access to long acting contraceptive methods, particularly the copper IUD, and the introductions of single rod progestogen implant and combined oestrogen and progestogen injectables. The copper IUD has been provided significantly less frequently than other contraceptive methods but signs of an increase in most provinces were reported.

The most frequently provided method was injectable progesterone, which the article acknowledged was not ideal and emphasised condom use with this method because it can can increase the risk of HIV: Tanzanian provider perspectives address the obstacles to consistent contraceptive use in their communities. It was found that the capability of dispensaries to service patients was determined by inconsistent reproductive goals, low educational attainment, misconceptions about the side effects of contraceptives, and social factors such as gender dynamics, spousal dynamics, economic conditions, religious norms, cultural norms, and constraints in supply chains.

A provider referenced and example of propaganda spread about the side effects of contraception: They normally convince people that condoms contain some microorganisms and contraceptive pills cause cancer". Another said that women often had pressure from their spouse or family that caused them to use birth control secretly or to discontinue use, and that women frequently preferred undetectable methods for this reason.

Access was also hindered as a result of a lack in properly trained medical personnel: The majority of medical centers were staffed by people without medical training and few doctors and nurses, despite federal regulations, due to lack of resources. One center had only one person who was able to insert and remove implants, and without her they were unable to service people who wanted an implant inserted or removed.

Another dispensary that carried two methods of birth control shared that they sometimes run out of both materials at the same time. Constraints in supply chains sometimes cause dispensaries to run out of contraceptive materials. Providers also claimed that more male involvement and education would be helpful. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For the journal, see International Journal of Sexual Health. Teenage pregnancy and Adolescent sexuality. Child marriage and Forced marriage.

American Journal of Public Health.

International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. Retrieved September 23, Clinician attitudes about the legitimacy of patient concerns and dissatisfaction with contraception". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Retrieved 4 March The New York Times.

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