Tertiary Students and Contraception use in Mash East province
In an effort to empower students on Family Planning and how to prevent unintended pregnancies, ZNFPC Mashonaland East Province conducted a tertiary institution health programme at Kushinga Phikelela Polytechnic College disseminating information on methods of family planning with emphasis was on Emergency Contraception (EC) as there is high uptake in most tertiary institutions.
By David Murwira (ZNFPC Mash East province)
Sister Sarah Dabwa, the ZNFPC Service Delivery Coordinator took the first and third year students through the topic Methods of Family Planning. Participants were taken through the short acting methods, long acting reversible contraceptives methods, permanent methods and Emergency Contraception. EC is not a method of Family Planning as some students assumed.
Sr. Dabwa told the students that, Emergency contraception prevents pregnancy after unprotected sex or if the contraception one has used fails, she said for example, a condom can split or one missed taking their contraceptives or after non-consensual intercourse like rape .The morning after pill as emergency contraceptive is meant to be taken shortly after unprotected sex within 120 hours to prevent pregnancy and not before sex. It’s considered to be 95% effective if one takes it within 24 hours (one day) of unprotected sex.
In the discussion Sr. Dabwa emphasised that frequent use of emergency contraception may cause periods to become irregular and unpredictable meaning one’s periods maybe earlier or later than normal. Other side effects include spotting that is light bleeding, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, headache, dizziness and pain in the abdomen and chest.
While Emergency Contraception prevents pregnancy, it is not considered as a method of family planning. Women who are sexually active should consider taking a contraceptive of choice. Besides the interactive discussion with the students, there was an opportunity for the Kushinga Phikelela students to have one on one counselling sessions with ZNFPC staff. Students in tertiary institutions are drawn from various backgrounds with different information regarding sexual reproductive health. Correct and consistent information dissemination to students through various behaviour change communication strategies empowers them greatly and assists students in making informed decisions about their reproductive health.