New challenges for the educational activities of midwives, gynaecologists and general practitioners

Abstract

One of the basic tasks of midwives' and other sexual and reproductive care professionals' work is to help people fulfil their family plans. An important tool for achieving this is to offer reliable and relevant information. The aims of this paper are: (1) to map topics currently understood under the term "family planning"; (2) to assess their relevance to the current European situation; (3) to uncover other missing important topics, if needed. Secondary analysis of various documents (e.g. WHO definitions, demographical and medical statistics, relevant research data) showed that the term "family planning" is still being understood only in its negative connotation; thus as a way how not to have children. However, the current situation in developed countries shows that fulfilling parental desires is a similarly important issue. Reproductive healthcare professionals should have a good knowledge of medically assisted reproduction options, their procedures, benefits and risks. They should also be familiar with the causes of infertility (mainly with the avoidable ones), and support their clients on their journey to having a child.