Page 203 - Health, Population and Environment Education 9

8.3 Reproductive Health
Reproduction is related to giving birth to children. Giving birth to children is very
important in our life. In the course of giving birth to children, a female should have better
care during pregnancy, delivery period and in postnatal period. Reproduction should be
safe and effective. When we discuss about reproduction, it is related with reproductive
health as well. Reproductive health is the basic right of every individual.
According to WHO, reproductive health can be defined as, “A state of complete physical,
mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity in all
matters relating to the reproductive system and its functions and processes.”
This definition clearly says that every individual should have proper development of
reproductive organs and parts. There should not be defects in the functions of reproductive
organs as well as the individuals have right to take necessary steps regarding birth
spacing, use of contraceptives, size of family and for the happy and satisfied sexual life.

Reproductive health deals with human health from pregnancy till the death of a person. It
provides information to young people regarding reproductive health process. It provides
services on maternal health care, safe motherhood, child care, human reproduction,
immunization, infertility, nutrition, transmission and prevention of sexually transmitted
infections, family planning and other related activities. In reality, the reproductive health helps
to improve the quality of life of people. The concept of reproductive health was introduced in
International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994 AD.

Aspects of reproductive health

Reproductive health is the condition of improvement of human health. It is related with
physical, mental and social well being of people. It is affected by reproduction and happy
married life. There are various aspects of reproductive health. They are described below:

a. Planning of family
The main motto of family life is to ensure happiness, peace, prosperity and satisfaction
among the family members. It can be possible only when people plan effectively for the
management of family resources as well as income of the family. It is even most essential for
planning family size, child education and health care, birth spacing, use of contraceptive
devices, marriage and conception at appropriate age, etc. This type of planning no doubt
supports in improvement of living standard of people. Planning of family can ensure
various aspects of reproduction like pregnancy, child birth, maternal and child care as
well.

b. Safe motherhood
Safe motherhood is the condition in which a mother can deliver a healthy baby without
any complication. It is very important aspect of reproductive health. It is not simply
related with child birth. It is even related with maternal and child care after delivery,

GREEN Environment Population and Health Education Book-9 203