Prevention
Prevention includes comprehensive sexual education, availability of family planning services, including access to a range of effective birth control methods. Most unintended pregnancies result from not using contraception, and many result from using contraceptives inconsistently or incorrectly. Increasing use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (such as IUD and contraceptive implants) decreases the chance of unintended pregnancy by decreasing the chance of incorrect use. Method failure is relatively rare with modern, highly effective contraceptives, and is much more of an issue when such methods are unavailable, unaffordable, or not used. (See comparison of contraceptive methods).
In the United States, women who have an unintended pregnancy are more likely to have subsequent unplanned pregnancies. Providing family planning and contraceptive services as part of prenatal, postpartum and post abortion care can help reduce recurrence of unintended pregnancy.
Providing contraceptives and family planning services at low or no cost to the user helps prevent unintended pregnancies. Many of those at risk of unintended pregnancy have little income, so even though contraceptives are highly cost-effective, up front cost can be a barrier. Subsidized family planning services improve the health of the population and saves money for governments and health insurers by reducing medical, education and other costs to society.
Providing modern contraceptives to the 201 million women at risk of unintended pregnancy in developing countries who do not have access to contraception would cost an estimated US$3.9 billion per year. This expenditure would prevent an estimated 52 million unintended pregnancies annually, preventing 1.5 million maternal and child deaths annually, and reduce induced abortions by 64% (25 million per year). Reduced illness related to pregnancy would preserve 27 million healthy life years, at a cost of $144 per year of healthy life.
It is theorized that preventing unintended pregnancies could help break the cycle of poverty.
Read more about this topic: Unintended Pregnancy
Famous quotes containing the word prevention:
“... if this world were anything near what it should be there would be no more need of a Book Week than there would be a of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)