Lesson 5

• Female puberty


  • Usually begins at about 8-13 years of age
  • The reproduction maturation of boys lags about two years behind that of girls
  • Physical changes include breast development, rounding of the hips and buttocks, growth of the hair in the pubic region and the underarm, and the start of menstruation
• Menstrual cycle


  • The monthly ovulation cycle that leads to menstruation (loss of blood and tissues lining the uterus) in the absence of pregnancy
  • Normally lasts around 28 days, on the average, but can be as short as 21 or as long as 40
  • Ovulation happens about 10-16 days before the start of the next period
• Type of Contraceptive Method

  • Birth control pill
  • Birth Control Injection
  • Withdrawal
  • Intrauterine device (IUD)

  
• Birth control pill


  • Contains synthetic oestrogen
  • Alters natural ovulation cycle

  
• Birth control pill


  • Theoretically 99-100 percent effective, but women have conceived on the "pill"
  • Low cost, easily available and controlled by the women
  • Takes daily after menstrual cycle begins
  • No benefits other than contraception

  
• Birth Control Injection


  • Given by the doctor
  • Not known how it works
  • No benefits other than contraception

  
• Withdrawal


  • Prevents the semen from going into the vagina
  • Theoretically 85 percent effective, but in reality about 70 percent
  • No cost, under the control of the man and the woman involved
  • Dependent of the man
  • No benefits other than contraception
• Intrauterine device (IUD)


  • Inserted inside the uterus by a doctor
  • Theoretically 95-98 percent effective
  • Long-lasting and relatively inexpensive
  • Inserted by the doctor in the first few days of menstruation; should be examined every few months
  • No benefits other than contraception

  
• When a woman is under 20, the pelvic area (the bone surrounding the birth canal) is still growing and may not be high maternal mortality rates is adolescent pregnancy
• If a young woman is not physically mature, the uterus may tear during the birth process, and she may die because of blood loss
• If she is lucky and survives the delivery, she might face fistula due to prolonged labor
• A baby's head can also tear the vagina causing a hole between the vagina and bladder or between the vagina and the rectum, resulting in what is known as fistula
• Unless she has an operation to fix her problem, for the rest of her life, she will not be able to hold her urine or faces and this will make her a social outcast
• Complications of early pregnancy in adolescents

  • Excessive vomiting
  • Severe anemia
  • Hypertension
  • Convulsion
  • Difficulty in breast feeding (If the girl is too young to produce milk)
  • Premature and low birth weight babies
  • Infection
  • Prolonged labor
  • High material morality or death
• The risk of having serious complications during pregnancy or childbirth is much higher for girls in their early teens than for older women
• Ages of 20-30 years are the safest period of women's life for child bearing
• The pelvis, or the bony birth canal, of a girl can grow wider by a s much as 20% between the time she begins menstruating and the time she is 16 years old
• Obstructed labor, due to disproportion between the size of the infant's head and the mother's pelvis, is most common among very young mothers
• The consequences of such obstructed labor may be death due to numerous complications or lifetime crippling conditions of vesico-vaginal fistula