Premarital screening and pre-conception counselling
Due to unawareness about premarital screening and preconception counselling many of us faces sexual problems, infections, unwanted pregnancy and cases of divorces. Child may be born with some disabilities and non treatable malformation due to lack of some tests and screening.
In today’s era because of advancement of medical and genetic tests, many of these life’s problems can be avoided.
When you are marrying to a person or going to start sexual activity, it becomes very important for you and your partner to be sure that any of you is not going to transmit any disease to your partner.
So it is very important to take professional advise before starting sexual activity.
Premarital means before marriage, there is something required is premarital screening. It helps in healthy marriage that is a state of agreement and harmony between the marriage partners with regard to the healthy, psychological, sexual, social, and legislative aspects, aiming at making a sound family and begetting healthy children.
Premarital Screening:
Premarital screening is defined as testing couples who are planning to get married soon or planning to start sexual activity, for common genetic blood disorders (e.g. sickle cell anemia and thalassemia and sickle cell anemia) and infectious diseases (e.g. hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS). The premarital screening aims to give medical consultation on the odds of transmitting the above mentioned diseases to the other partner/spouse or children and to provide partners/spouses with options that help them plan for healthy family.
Hence, those couple, who are planning to get married soon, are advised to conduct the premarital screening at least three months before the marriage date; so that the couple can plan their lives better, as the premarital compatibility certificates is valid for only six months. The screening for infectious diseases can also be re-conducted when needed.
Pre conception counselling
Pre conception counselling maximize the potential for reducing the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, preconception counselling is used to inform couples contemplating pregnancy about general and personal risk factors.
Preconception counseling is defined as health education and promotion. The goal of preconception care is health education and promotion, risk assessment, and intervention before pregnancy to reduce the chances of poor perinatal outcomes. Nearly half of the pregnancies that occur annually are unplanned. Preconception counseling can help in reducing the chances of unwanted pregnancies and incidences of abortion rate. Preconception counseling targeted at the mother, father and family, can reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Preconception counseling and education must include early health promotion and information to guide families in identifying risks and addressing those risks before pregnancy.
