Newly wed couples discuss health, family planning

ALLAHABAD: Recently married PappuAhmed and Nasreen Bano were amongst the 60 newly married couples to arrive herefor an interactive discussion on health and family planning at a workshoporganised by health and family welfare department. These couples put forthnumerous queries and got their doubts clarified.The workshop startedwith an introduction session with chief medical officer SK Sinha, where herequested these couples speak out their anxieties, fears and doubts regardingthe married life. "Our aim would be fulfilled only if the couples come out andseek clarifications on all issues related to health, hygiene and family planningmethods," he said.The couples hesitant in the beginning startedopening up slowly as Nisha Singh from social and preventive medicine department,MLN Medical College talked to them about the changes in the body duringadolescence. As she moved on to personal hygiene, the gathering discussed aboutthe cleanliness in the surroundings, use of toilets, importance of hygieneduring menstruation and methods to save oneself from infections. Herdiscussion was followed by a talk on AIDS by Shakti Vasu. It was heartening toknow that everyone in the gathering, which had young males and females fromfar-off regions of the districts, knew about AIDS. They were informed andeducated in detail about the preventions and precautions regarding the sexuallytransmitted diseases.Family planning was taken up next as RK Singh,district health education and information officer talked about the benefits offamily planning. He informed the gathering regarding various family planningmethods that could be adopted by them easily. You should plan your life.Unplanned pregnancies followed by abortions or unspaced childbirths have anadverse impact on the health, he added. He also gave a motto `Ek ke baad abhinahi, do ke baad kabhi nahi'!Every women dreams of becoming a motherone day; fulfil you dream but don't forget your duty to take extra care of yourhealth during pregnancy which indirectly means your child's wellbeing, addedSingh. She talked about pregnancy testing, nutrition during pregnancy, bloodtests, health check-ups, Iron-folic acid tablet regime, delivery, importance ofbreast feeding and birth registration of the child. A brief talk on each topicwitnessed many queries related to age-old myths. Explanations by the doctorscleared many such misgivings. VK Srivastava, ACMO talked about the variousschemes for pregnant women like the Janani Suraksha Yojana and SaubhagyawatiYojana. He stressed on the importance of institutional deliveries by outliningthe benefits of adopting these schemes. On being questioned at theend of the workshop, Pappu Ahmed and Nasreen Bano, who got married only afortnight ago (2nd March 2009) said, "It has been an eye-opener for us." Awdeshand Sushma from Karchna agreed and added, "These issues can not be talked aboutopenly. Today our doubts have been cleared very well." Chotelal andAsha Devi from Meja welcomed this initiative by the administration and hopedthat many more such workshops would be organised so that couples like them canlead life in a better way. Geeta Devi and Ganesh Kumar from Phoolpur were veryhappy with the knowledge and said, "We promise to follow ourselves and alsoeducate our neighbours and friends about it."