Women’s reproductive health refers to the health conditions and diseases that can have an effect on the female reproductive system. This system plays an essential role in a woman’s life.
It includes the following organs: Uterus is hallow, pear-shaped organ where fertilized egg can develop into a baby.
The narrow end of the uterus is the Cervix. The cervix is connected outside the body through a tube called Vagina.
Ovaries are located on either sides of the uterus and responsible for the production of hormones and eggs.
Fallopian tubes are located on the upper part of the uterus and as tunnel for the ova to pass from the ovaries to the uterus.
Although breasts are not the part of female reproductive system, they are treated as reproductive organ because they play an essential role in pregnancy and motherhood.
Women’s reproductive health mainly focuses on activities such as contraception, menstrual cycle, fertility, infertility and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Contraception is nothing but birth control. This can be done using hormonal birth control methods (pills, injections, skin patches, vaginal rings), barrier methods (female condoms, diaphragm, and cervical cap), birth control devices (intrauterine device), and surgical procedure (vasectomy). All these methods help prevent pregnancy and other hormonal diseases.
Menstruation is a process where your body becomes ready for pregnancy because every month the ovaries of your reproductive system produce eggs and when the sperm fertilizes the egg, pregnancy takes place. If not, menstrual period will occur.
The stage where your menstrual periods stop is known as menopause stage. It usually occurs after forty years. The most common menstrual problems are dysmenorrhea (painful periods), menorrhagia (heavy menstrual flow) and amenorrhea (no periods).
On the other hand, sexually transmitted diseases can also affect a women’s reproductive health. The sexual transmitted disease usually spread through sexual activities with an infected person.
The most common sexually transmitted diseases among women are gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, genital herpes, genital warts, pelvic inflammatory diseases and HIV.
Fertility is the ability to give birth to a child through sexual intercourse or test tube method. On the other hand, infertility refers to the inability of having a pregnancy.
Mostly, the problem of infertility rises because of irregular menstrual periods, miscarriage, painful sexual intercourse or any other disability.
Another disease that usually occurs in the reproductive age is endometriosis where the uterus sheds during menstruation and causes internal bleeding, infection and injury.
The substances that affect the women’s reproductive health are called reproductive hazards. These hazards may lead to problems: infertility, miscarriage [Miscarriage Symptoms], or birth defects. These include exposure to radiation, drugs, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, and certain chemicals.
Maintaining women’s reproductive health can overcome all these issues.
For this, always stay healthy, maintain a normal weight, exercise regularly, practice yoga, keep away from smoking because it reduces your chances of becoming pregnant, avoid unprotected sexual activities, maintain a healthy diet, sleep well, lessen your stress, and have regular checkups because it helps stay fertile all the time.
Remember that a healthy body condition reflects a women’s reproductive health.
