Family Planning Options For Women In The Latest WHO Handbook

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Fertility
Article Date: 14 Jul 2007 - 3:00 PDT

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The recently released "Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers" includes a chapter on fertility-awareness based methods of family planning, highlighting the Standard Days Method and the TwoDay Method, two family-planning methods developed by Georgetown University Medical Center's Institute for Reproductive Health, as effective, easy-to-use and without the health risks of chemically based family planning methods such as birth control pills.

The publication, developed by the World Health Organization, Johns Hopkins University, and the United States Agency for International Development, is used by family planning providers worldwide, especially in developing countries.

"With the inclusion of the Standard Days and TwoDay Methods in the WHO family planning handbook for providers, we anticipate that many more providers around the world will offer fertility awareness methods, thereby increasing women's access to these effective, easy-to-use, low-cost options," said Victoria Jennings, Ph.D., co-developer of the methods and director of the Institute for Reproductive Health. She is also professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Georgetown University Medical Center.

Utilizing data from sophisticated computer modeling of reproductive physiology and field studies, the Georgetown researchers developed the Standard Days Method and CycleBeads™, the simple visual aid used by women who follow the Standard Days Method. They enable a woman to identify the 12-day "fertile window" of her menstrual cycle. These 12 days take into account the life span of the woman's egg (about 24 hours) and the viable life of sperm (about 5 days) as well as the variation in the actual timing of ovulation. In a clinical trial, the Standard Days Method proved to be more than 95 percent effective with correct use, similar to other user-directed methods such as the pill. Because this natural method identifies all of the fertile days, it also helps couples who want a pregnancy to achieve their goal.

To use CycleBeads to follow the Standard Days Method, a woman moves a black rubber ring over a series of color-coded beads that represent her fertile and low fertility days. The day a woman starts her period she puts the rubber ring on CycleBeads' red bead. Each day she moves the ring one bead, always in the direction of the arrow. When the ring is on the red bead or a dark bead, there is very low likelihood of pregnancy. When the ring is on a glow-in-the-dark white bead -- Days 8 through 19 -- there is a high likelihood of getting pregnant. CycleBeads also helps a woman know if her cycle length is in the range (26-32 days long) for using this method effectively.

The TwoDay Method employs a very different approach to identifying the fertile days of a woman's menstrual cycle. TwoDay Method users monitor the presence or absence of cervical secretions. Women then use a simple formula to determine whether they should consider themselves fertile on a specific day. Georgetown studies have found this method to be 96 percent effective.

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Additional information on the Standard Days Method and the TwoDay Method, including details for on-line training for healthcare providers, is available from the Institute for Reproductive Health at www.irh.org. In addition to being available from a growing number of reproductive health providers worldwide, CycleBeads can be purchased at retail outlets or over the internet at http://www.cyclebeads.com/.

The WHO Global Family Planning Handbook can be found online at http://www.fphandbook.org/. The Fertility Awareness Chapter (17) is located on pages 239-254.

About The Institute for Reproductive Health

The Institute for Reproductive Health is dedicated to helping women and men make informed choices about family planning and providing them with simple and effective natural options. As part of Georgetown University's School of Medicine, the Institute conducts research to develop natural methods of family planning and test them in service delivery settings.

About Georgetown University Medical Center

Georgetown University Medical Center is an internationally recognized academic medical center with a three-part mission of research, teaching and patient care (through our partnership with MedStar Health). Our mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on public service and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis -- or "care of the whole person." The Medical Center includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing and Health Studies, both nationally ranked, the world-renowned Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization (BGRO).

Source: Cindy Fox Aisen
Georgetown University Medical Center

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