Concept of natural family planning methods

In your ANC module, you learnt the physiological processes and observable changes during the menstrual cycle. Once a month, an egg is released from one of the woman's ovaries (ovulation). The egg can stay alive in the uterus for about 24hours. Men can always produce sperm cells, and these can stay alive in the female reproductive system for about two to five days after being deposited in the vagina during sexual intercourse. From a fertility point of view, women have periods of time during their cycle when they are unlikely to conceive, whereas men have not such a "safe period".

"Fertility awareness" means that a woman knows how to tell when the fertile time of her menstrual cycle starts and ends. The fertile time is when she can become pregnant. This method is sometimes called periodic abstinence or natural family planning.

However, these methods depend on the awareness and ability of the couple to identify the fertile and infertile phase of each menstrual cycle, and also require cooperation between the couple to abstain from, or to have, sexual intercourse, depending on whether they are trying to avoid or achieve pregnancy.

Advantages

Natural family planning methods are the preferred contraceptive method for women who do not wish to use artificial methods of contraception for reasons of religion, health or who, due to rumours and myths, fear other methods.

Disadvantages

Natural family planning methods take time to practice and use them properly, which adds to their unreliability. Additionally, natural family planning methods do not protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). You should advise couples to use condoms to protect against STI.

How effective are fertility awareness methods?

The effectiveness of any method of natural family planning can vary from couple to couple, and all these methods are less effective for couples who do not follow the instruction carefully, and risk of pregnancy is greatest when couples have unprotected sex on the fertile days.