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| Sunday, 29 January 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Myths keep contraceptives at bay by Shanika Sriyananda The couple in their mid 40's has embarked on a mission but do not want to believe in the hard truth that it cannot be 'reverted'. They hopefully wait until they receive a positive reply, which can only be done through a medical intervention.
Their two little girls never returned home and parents Ramal and Anushka, had a narrow escape but never ever found their bodies. They realised that dreaming of their two little angels, after more than a year is still an illusion. But they now struggle to get back the idea of raising children. 'Giving birth to yet another baby' was their only hope, which seemed to be a distant dream to the couple, who had already undergone sterilization to keep their family small after the second baby. After a period of five years after undergoing 'Tubectomy LRT' today Anushka is hoping to step into the 'nine month journey', go to medical officers in search of a way to revert the operation to become a mother again. Their entire wealth went with the waves, and this hope has made them strong and courageous despite in fact that both are in their late 40's. Many couples, after years of undergoing permanent contraceptions, and now with 'empty nests' after the tsunami, clamour for children. A fair demand to revert these operations is emerging from the tsunami - hit areas, but the answer seems to be a miracle, where little can be done medically. For medical officers, it is hard to turn away these middle-aged couples away and even to explain the truth that they, the doctors cannot fully guarantee the chance of giving birth to a child. The real truth is bitter and of course hard to believe at once. "To bring their reproductive systems back to normal is very difficult. After five to six years of performing the LRT, the fibrous tissues will form in the female, and the sperm production will decrease after a vasectomy in males", Dr. Hemantha Wickramatillake, Medical director of the Family Planning Association (FPA) says. He says that after the Tsunami, many couples who lost all their children call at the FPA requesting help. But the FPA cannot give them a promise, since chances are very remote. There have been cases when a death of a child and also from those who had divorced, in the meantime come for reversal surgery after a second marriage. "Divorced and remarried, the husbands or wives want to have babies to make the 'new' marriage work out. So they come to us for help", he adds. However, the story of family planning still has a long way to go. The myths on contraceptives are a hindrance on its popularization. According to a study by Prof. L.C. Rajapakshe, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, majority of women who underwent abortion (39.4 per cent) practised the rhythm method, instead of other contraceptive methods like condoms, injectables, OCP, IUCD and the pills. The study revealed that some women who have been used to a contraceptive method earlier, had discontinued due to side effects and the reasons for discontinuation were mainly due to a lack of knowledge. According to Dr. Wickramatillake, family planning is a concept of spacing out children, and the main advantage goes to the mother, who will be healthier when there is an age gap between the children. "First, we create an awareness about the benefits of smaller families, and with that understanding if the couple want to have a small family we provide the services", he says, adding that young people who are ready to get married as well as those who wish to have children more than two, seek help from the FPA. He says that most people, including the young, have vague ideas about temporary contraceptives like condoms and, lack awareness on how to use them, emphasising that those who use these temporary contraceptives can come back to normal without any harm done when they stop using the method. "While providing counselling, we explain to them the whole process and most young people just about to marry end up taking pills, two or three months before the marriage, because the body needs time to get used to the pills", he says. Clearing the myth that those who take the pill will put on weight, he says that it had some truth in it with the previous pills, which has more oestrogen, but this content has been greatly reduced in the present forms. "New pills are fine which have very little oestrogen and will not cause obesity", he adds. In a country with an alarming number of abortions, the contraceptives can play a leading role to bring down the unwanted pregnancies, if the people are aware about the services and the facilities that are offered to them. According to Dr. Wickramatillake the different types of short-term contraceptives are now available in Sri Lanka. "The problem" he says" is the lack of awareness on these services. We went to popularise these services among rural women and there is a dare need of taking the message to the grassroot level. Some young women in their mid 30's have more than five children and they badly need these services". *** Different short-term contraceptive methods for spacing Oral contraceptive (Pill) - Need to take every day for 21 days. Combined formulations and contains both oestrogen and progestogen. The pill should be withheld until six-months after delivery or till the infant is weaned. Condoms Intra Uterine Contraception (IUCD) - Very efficient spacing method and effective for 10-years. Contraceptive Implants - 'NORPLANT' - Effective for 5-years. This is suitable for most women of productive age and is particularly recommended for use by women who wish to obtain long-term protection from pregnancy. Injectable - Depo provera- Effective for 3-months. Injections of long acting progestagen are given at intervals varying from one to six months. (Source - FPA) Bedbugs are back Bedbugs are back, and they're not just rearing their rust-coloured heads in New York City. Experts say they're spreading to other States and countries.
The current generation of exterminators has been caught unaware by these pests, which were all but forgotten for decades. They blame the comeback on several factors, primarily increased global travel and the banning of potent pesticides like DDT. "We feel like we're starting from scratch," said Eisenberg, who returned this weekend from a conference where bedbugs were a priority. The tiny vermin avoid light and attack in the middle of the night. About the size of a flattened apple seed, they hide in cracks and crevices in furniture and walls. They're efficient and active travellers, often hitching rides on clothing and jumping from host to host when people brush up against each other on the subway, in elevators or on crowded streets. And they invade even the cleanest apartments and swankiest neighbourhoods. Fighting an infestation is a costly, time-consuming process. Belongings must be removed from the home to be thoroughly washed or dry-cleaned, followed by meticulous vacuuming, before the exterminator can even begin work. It often takes several visits. People who have bedbugs rarely see them. The only signs are pepper-like spots of their faecal matter, specks of dried blood on bed sheets and, of course, the bites. The scourge is nearly impossible to eradicate; the creatures can go a year without feeding, they reproduce rapidly and don't die easily. - The Associated Press Exercise gets you off depression's treadmill AUSTIN, Texas: Thirty minutes of brisk walking can immediately boost the mood of depressed patients, giving them the same quick pick-me-up they may seek from cigarettes, caffeine or binge eating, a small study found. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin found that people suffering from depression who walked on a treadmill for 30 minutes reported feeling more vigorous and had a greater sense of psychological well-being for up to an hour after the workout. Those patients and another group that sat quietly for 30 minutes both reported reductions in negative feelings such as tension, depression, anger and fatigue. But only the group that exercised said they felt good after the session, according to the study published in the December issue of the journal, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Lead researcher John Bartholomew said the study reinforced past research that had found consistent exercise, along with medication and counselling, can help people overcome depression. However, it is among the first studies to show that exercise can have a positive effect right away. "It's not something you have to do for 10 weeks and it's not something you have to do at a high intensity," said Mr Bartholomew, an associate professor of kinesiology and health education. "You should derive a benefit very early on in the process, and hopefully that is the kind of thing that will motivate them to continue to engage in the behaviour." The study involved 40 people between the ages of 18 and 55. All were recently diagnosed with major depressive disorder, were not taking anti-depressants and did not regularly exercise. Twenty patients were assigned to exercise for 30 minutes, while the others sat quietly for the same amount of time. For mildly to moderately depressed patients, exercise may lessen feelings of helplessness and isolation, said Erik Nelson, an Assistant Professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. AP Mr. Minister, over to you... Better sanitary facilities leads to better health, is a very common truth even a pre-schooler is well aware of. But.. who can boast of the cleanliness of an institution which neglected to providing better sanitary facilities for its own staffers. Especially, what will happen when this basic truth is overlooked by the institution, which is mandatory to safeguard the country's health. When it fails to provide better facilities for its own ordinary staffers, one can query about the capability of that institution to implement such programs for the rural masses. The toilets of ordinary staffers, except the high ranking officers of the 'Suwasiripaya' lack basic facilities. Thanks to the workers of a private company which maintains the cleanliness of the toilets to some extent, the facilities in these places, which are used by hundreds of staffers, especially the females, are with only the basic facilities. In this modern era, the Ministry of health seems to be moving at a very slow pace. With ever leaking taps, and no bidet showers around, very old plastic buckets are around to fulfil the needs of the staff. The most pathetic fact is that these toilet doors have no locks. A fabric string is hooked in one toilet and the user has to tie it on the nail, each time. The string, which is fading red and turning to an ugly blackish colour, is the only solution to close the door. The young staffer just entered the next toilet, where there is no way to lock, and kept the bucket to make sure the door is closed. " Now we are used to these conditions. Nothing has changed, though we complained, and we, especially the females have to suffer", she said adding that minor regular repairs can give them better conditions. When asked from a Director, she was amazed to hear that these toilets are in such a pathetic condition. " Ours are better. We do not know much about these conditions", she seemed to be proud about the condition of the 'Directors' toilets. So who is to be blamed ...? (SS) |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Being professionals and married lately, Ramal and Anushka (original names
withheld) lived with a happy and small family before the killer tsunami. The
two little kids, aged four and five brought happiness but all hopes of a
happy future swept away with the monster waves that played havoc in their
village, few miles away from the Galle district. 
"There's an epidemic going on throughout the country, and New York seems
to be the hotbed," said Jeffrey Eisenberg, a pest control expert. Bedbugs
are turning up in hospitals, schools, movie theatres and health clubs. 
