Hesperian Health Guides
Benefits of family planning
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Every year, half a million people die of problems from pregnancy, childbirth, and unsafe abortion. Family planning helps prevent these deaths. Pregnancy is a greater health risk when it happens: In poor countries about half of all deaths in women of child-bearing age are caused by problems in pregnancy and birth. Family planning helps prevent these pregnancies and deaths.
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| As well as saving lives, family planning has other benefits | ||
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| Families will be healthier, because risky pregnancies are avoided. |  |
Fewer children means more food for each child. |
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| Waiting to have children can allow young people time to complete their education. | Fewer children can mean more time for yourselves and the children you have. | |
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| Family planning can also help you and your partner enjoy sex more, because you are not afraid of unwanted pregnancy. And some methods have other health benefits. For example, condoms protect people from sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. Hormonal methods can help with irregular bleeding and pain during menstrual periods. | ||
In this chapter, “have sex” usually means penis-in-vagina sex, because this is the kind of sex that can cause pregnancy.
All of the family planning methods found in this chapter are used safely by millions of people all over the world.
This chart shows how well each method prevents pregnancy and protects against STIs. The chart also shows some possible side effects for each method and other important information about using it. Some methods require people to do something every day or every time they have sex. This can make them more challenging for people to use correctly all the time, so they tend to be less effective at preventing pregnancy.