Impact of Public Health Policy on Reproductive Health and Family Planning

Public Health Policy

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
a. Identification and critical analysis of a public health policy, highlighting local, national and
global implications of the policy on a specific population..........................................................1
b. Critical discussion of the role of politics and public involvement in public health policy.....3
c. Critical evaluation of the evidence base for the policy and discussion of the process of how
the policy can be translated into practice.....................................................................................4
d. Critically discuss how the public health policy may impact on the specific population
identified......................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Health policy is defined as the actions, plans and decisions which are undertaken to accomplish
the goals of health care within a society. It is a science of protecting and enhancing the health of
individuals and communities. An explicit policy of health can accomplish several things by
defining a vision for future which supports in establishing targets and reference points for
medium and short term. The public health efforts involve educating people regarding healthy
choices, preventing diseases outbreaks, promoting fitness and physical activities, preventing
spread of infectious diseases, preparing for emergency, treating water with fluoride for dental
and oral health, ensuring safe water and food in communities, preventing injury and discouraging
the use of tobacco and developing smoke-free environments (Bellows, and et. al., 2016). Public
health policy promotes healthy behaviours as well as change conditions (economic, social and
environmental) to enhance the health of overall population. The policy which is taken into
consideration in this report is associated with reproductive health and family planning. This
report covers critical analysis of public health policy as well as local, national and global
implications of policy on a particular population. Apart from this it also includes discussion of
role of politics in public health policy and the public involvement in policy. Moreover, the
evaluation of evidence-based for policy and the discussion of processes of the way policy can be
translated into practice are discussed. At last, the discussion about the way public health policy
main influence on particular population is covered in the report (Brittain and et. al., 2015).
MAIN BODY
a. Identification and critical analysis of a public health policy, highlighting local, national and
global implications of the policy on a specific population
In United Kingdom, the labor government introduced a 10-year teenage pregnancy policy
in order to address the historical high rates in the country and reduce social exclusion. It involves
comprehensive program of action surrounding 4 themes: better prevention by improved
relationships and sex education as well as access to effective contraception; coordinated support
for young parents; joined up action at local and national level; and a communications campaign
in order to reach parents and young people (Bongaarts, 2014). By regional local and national
structures, the policy was implemented with dedicated funding for the duration of 10 years. By
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the execution of this policy, dark conception rate under 18 was reduced steadily. There are
various interconnected factors due to which the rates of teenage pregnancy are influenced. This
intervention of government of England, United Kingdom has successfully declines the teenage
pregnancy rates. In year 2016, under 18 conception rate was 18.8 conceptions among per
thousand women who are aged 15 to 17 years. This was the lowest rate in comparison to the data
recorded from previous years (Eva, Quinn and Ngo, 2015).
Reproductive health is crucial to accomplish the goals of agenda for sustainable
development in year 2030. Reproductive health is defined as the state of complete mental,
physical and social wellbeing. This is not only the absence of infirmity or disease, in all matters
associated two reproductive systems as well as its processes and functions. The reproductive
health care involves access to variety of good quality services and information including
education and services for safe delivery, parental care and postnatal care; prevention and
treatment of infertility; family planning counselling, education, information, communication and
services involving access to effective and safe contraceptive methods; prevention and treatment
of sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive tract infections as well as other reproductive health
conditions; counselling, information and education as appropriate on responsible parenthood,
reproductive health and human sexuality; prevention of unsafe abortion as well as administration
of its consequences; and prevention of harmful practices like female genital mutilation.
The government have adopted a policy which aims at enhancing the sexual and
reproductive health of adolescents. In this policy the measures considered are enforcing the
minimum age marriage, administering school based sexual education and expanding secondary
school enrollment of girls (Farmer and et. al., 2015). At the regional level, adoption of these
measures improving sexual and reproductive health of adolescents. At the global level, all the
governments adopt the measure of providing school based education of sexuality as an
intervention. This helps in aware the girls about the sexual and reproductive health. The
implications of adolescent pregnancy are profound. During the pregnancy and childbirth, the
adolescence who are used between 15 to 19 years are twice as possibly to die in comparison to
the women who is aged older than 20 years. The girls who are under 15 years of age are 5 times
more possibly to die at the time of pregnancy and childbirth. Providing them with the means to
accomplish high health standards, by ensuring equality, confidentiality, privacy and non-
discrimination is crucial for protecting and respecting globally accepted rights of humans.
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