- Family planning
[http://www.who.int/topics/family_planning/en/ WHO | Family planning ] ] .
Family planning is sometimes used as a synonym for the use of
birth control , though it often includes more.It is most usually applied to the circumstance of a
monogamous female -male couple who wish to limit the number ofchild ren they have and/or to control the timing ofpregnancy (also known as "spacing children").Definitions
"FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES: Educational, comprehensive medical or social activities which enable individuals, including minors, to determine freely the number and spacing of their children and to select the means by which this may be achieved." [http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/systems/ncands/ncands98/glossary/glossary.htm US Dept. of Health, Administration for children and families] ]
Planning Children
Raising a child uses significant amounts of resources: time, social, financial [ [http://www.msmoney.com/mm/planning/marriage/family_planning.htm MsMoney.com - Marriage, Kids & College - Family Planning ] ] , environmental.
Planning can help assure that resources are available.Planning for Health
Waiting until mother is at least 18 years old before trying to have children improves maternal and child health.cite web |url=http://www.esdproj.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Themes_Spacing_KeyMessages | title = Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancy: HTSP Messages | publisher = USAID |accessdate=2008-05-13]
If additional children are desired, it is healthier for both the mother and child to wait at least 2 years after the previous birth before attempting to conceive (but not more than 5 years). After a miscarriage or abortion, it is healthier to wait at least 6 months.
Finances
Childbirth and prenatal health care cost averaged $7,090 for normal delivery in the US in 1996. [cite journal |author=Mushinski, M. |title=Average charges for uncomplicated vaginal, cesarean and VBAC deliveries: Regional variations, United States, 1996. |date=1998 | journal = Statistical Bulletin | volume = 79 | issue = 3 |pages=17–28] US Department of Agriculture estimates that a US family will spend an average of $11,000 to $23,000 per year for the first 17 years of child's life on a child born in 2007. (Total inflation adjusted estimated expenditure: $196,000 to $393,000, depending on household income.)cite web | title = Expenditures on Children by Families, 2007; Miscellaneous Publication Number 1528-2007 | publisher = United States Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
url=http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/CRC/crc2007.pdf
url=http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/ExpendituresonChildrenbyFamilies.htm
notes = Breaks down cost by age, type of expense, region of country. Adjustments for number of children (one child - spend 24% more, 3 or more spend less on each child.)]Policy
International
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the world's largest international source of funding for population and reproductive health programs.The main goals of the
International Conference on Population and Development Program of Action are:* Universal access to
reproductive health services by 2015
* Universal primary education and closing the gender gap in education by 2015
* Reducing maternal mortality by seventy-five percent by 2015
* Reducinginfant mortality
* Increasing life expectancy
* HIV infection rates in persons 15-24 years of age should be reduced by 25 percent in the most-affected countries by 2005 and by 25 percent globally by 2010.China
China 's "one-child policy " encourages couples to have no more than one child. China's population policy has been credited with a very significant slowing of China's population growth which had been very high before the policy was implemented. It has come under criticism that the implementation of the policy has involved forcedabortion s andforced sterilization . However, while the punishment of "Unplanned" pregnancy is a fine, both forced abortion and forced sterilization can be charged with intentional assault, which is punished with up to 10 years' imprisonment.United States
Enacted in 1970 as
Title X of thePublic Health Service Act [ [http://www.hhs.gov/opa/about/legislation/index.html US Office of Population Affairs - Legislation] ] , Title X provides access to contraceptive services, supplies and information to those in need. Priority for services is given to persons of low-income. The Title X Family Planning program is administered within the Office of Population Affairs within the Office of Public Health and Science. The Office of Family Planning directs Title X. [http://opa.osophs.dhhs.gov/titlex/ofp.html Office of Population Affairs] ] In 2007, Congress appropriated roughly $283 million for family planning under Title X, at least 90 percent of which was used for services in family planning clinics.Title X is a vital source of funding for family planning clinics throughout the nation.cite web
url= http://www.plannedparenthood.org/issues-action/birth-control/family-planning-6553.htm
title= America's Family Planning Program: Title X
accessdate= 2008-08-31
last= Friedman
first= Deborah
date= 2007-06-12
publisher =Planned Parenthood Federation of America ] Family planning clinics are very important in providing reproductive health care. The education and services supplied by the Title X-funded clinics support young individuals and low-income families. Goals of developing healthy families are accomplished by helping individuals and couples decide whether and when to have children.Titles X has made possible the prevention of unintended pregnancies. It has allowed millions of American women to receive necessary reproductive health care, plan their pregnancies and prevent abortions. Title X is dedicated exclusively to funding family planning and reproductive health care services.Title X as a percentage of total public funding to family planning client services has steadily declined from 44% of total expenditures in 1980 to 12% in 2006. Medicaid has increased from 20% to 71% in the same time. In 2006, Medicaid contributed $1.3 billion to public family planning. [Sonfield A, Alrich C and Gold RB, Public funding for family planning, sterilization and abortion services, FY 1980–2006, Occasional Report, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2008, No. 38. http://guttmacher.org/pubs/2008/01/28/or38.pdf]
Iran
Another noted example is
Iran , which has succeeded in sharply reducing its birth rate in recent years.References
ee also
*
Childfree
*Child
*Family
*natalism andantinatalism
*Parenting
**Parental leave
*Reproductive health
*Reproductive medicine
*POPLINE : World's largest reproductive health database, part ofThe INFO Project *Organizations
**Family Planning Association (UK)
**Family Planning Association India
**The Family Planning Association of Hong Kong
**Planned Parenthood
**Marie Stopes International
**National Alliance for Optional Parenthood External links
* [http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familyplanning/index.html US DHHS Office of Population Affairs] Administers the U.S. Title X Family Planning program.
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