What is natural family planning?

Dear doctor,
What is natural family planning?
Amina

Dear Amina,
Natural family planning refers to ways used to plan or prevent pregnancy, using a woman’s fertile days. Avoiding unprotected intercourse during the fertile days then prevents pregnancy.
Natural methods are also known as fertility awareness-based methods. In Uganda, moon beads (a string of coloured beads) that can help a woman know her fertile days are used. Couples seeking to avoid pregnancy have to abstain during the fertile time of the woman’s cycle. Natural family planning has long been practised by the Catholic Church followers. Breastfeeding at least every three hours also helps in contraception. Unfortunately, while many women can adhere to this intensive breastfeeding early after delivery, they find it difficult when they start working after maternity leave.
Natural family planning is advantageous since one is free from artificial substances and their side effects. Plus, it encourages male involvement in family planning. However being elaborate to follow may lead to mistakes and a high failure rate.

Dear doctor
my eight-month old daughter had diarrhoea and her stool had askari worms. How is it possible?
Janice Amale

Dear Janice,
Askaris (roundworms) infest human beings when they eat food contaminated with eggs of the worms. The eggs and worms themselves are passed together with stool if one has roundworm infestation.
At eight months, a baby has already started crawling and putting into its mouth everything it finds on its contaminated way. Also, the baby in many communities has started eating food prepared for adults and handled by worm-infested adults. Crawling in compounds where the other young ones pass stool (which is probably left there for hours) can put the baby at risk of many other worms though less so with round worm.
In Uganda during immunisation, apart from Vitamin A, de-worming is done to further emphasise that babies are also at risk of the marauding worms. However, today many worms are proving resistant to the usual Mabendazole treatment and also because one may be infested with multiple worm types, it is required that combination worm treatment just as in malaria is given.

Dear doctor,
While having sex with my partner last week, I ejaculated and continued with the act, but after a while, I realised the condom wasn’t on. Where did it go? Are there chances of getting HIV/Aids?
Neavesi Kakeeto

Dear Neavesi,
A condom is used to protect sexual partners against Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV, and for contraception. The proper use demands that partners are taught and counselled about how to use a condom. Unfortunately sex matters are always treated secretly and couples will always avoid such counselling, sometimes ending up using condoms wrongly and with traumatic consequences.
A man wearing a condom should withdraw immediately after ejaculation to avoid condom retention. Your failure to withdraw and use the same condom again may be responsible for the retention; in Uganda it is wrongly thought that the condom will traverse the abdomen ending up in diverse areas including the heart with a likelihood of stopping the heart.
It is likely that the retained condom may have somehow exited when the woman was bathing after sex or if she squatted. This however does not necessarily mean that because you didn’t see a condom, you were not exposed to her vaginal fluids with a likelihood of getting HIV in case she has it.
I cannot for sure tell how much you exposed yourself to HIV infection since this depends on many factors. What you need now is to visit an HIV counsellor who will counsel you and help you get tested for the infection, now, and again after three months in case you are found negative after the first check.
Not every exposure leads to infection though one can get infected at the first exposure.

Dear doctor,
I have been reading that garlic prevents cancer. Is this true? If so, how much should I take in a day? I have been taking lots and now everything of mine smells of garlic.Bethwel Mudanda ESQ

Dear Bethwel,
The body’s basic unit is called a cell. Cancer occurs when cells become abnormal and divide without control or order. To be healthy, cells divide to produce more cells when the body needs them. If cells keep dividing when new cells are not needed, a mass of tissue (tumour, benign or cancerous) forms. Benign tumours do not spread to other parts of the body and are rarely a threat to life. Cancer cells can invade and damage tissues and organs near the tumour and in most cases, they spread to other organs far from their site of origin.
Though the cause of cancer for sure is unknown, certain factors – environmental (including foods) or hereditary may influence how easily we may get certain cancers. Our diet may influence our risk of getting cancer of the bowel (fast foods), stomach (salted and smoked foods), mouth (neat alcohol like kasese), and liver (alcohol and stored groundnuts invaded by a fungus).
A healthy balanced diet high in fibre, fruits and vegetables and low in red, processed meat and saturated fat, can reduce cancer risks. Certain nutrients in vegetables and fruits protect against damage to tissues that occurs constantly as a result of normal metabolism (oxidation). Because such damage is linked to increased cancer risk, the so-called antioxidant nutrients are thought to protect against cancer. Tomatoes and their lycopene and garlic have been much talked about as protectors against cancer, may be because of their antioxidant properties and fibre.