DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Helping Women Use the Pill

By Caty Weaver

This is he VOA Special English DEVELOPMENT REPORT.

The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland has published a new report about how to help women use one kind of birth control. The Population Information Program of the School of Public Health produced the report.

The report says one-hundred-million women around the world take hormone pills every day to prevent pregnancy. This birth control method is often called "the pill." The report says this method is effective, safe and easy. However, it also says many women still do not use birth control pills as successfully as possible.

The report discusses ways to increase the success of pill use. One of these involves help from husbands. The report notes studies in which husbands helped their wives take birth control pills correctly. The studies show that the women who have support from their husbands use the pill longer and more effectively. These women also deal better with the effects the pill can cause.

The report says good health care advising is also important. It calls for personal communication between the user and the provider of birth control pills. The report says providers should know a great deal about the pill to be able to advise women well. It says providers should also have good communication skills.

The report praises a process of advising called GATHER. Each letter in the word stands for a different step in the process. These steps are greet, ask, tell, help, explain, return. The report says these steps assist in a complete exchange of information between the adviser and pill user.

The report also lists the most important messages that advisers should tell women about the pill. The main message is that the pill works when it is taken correctly. Another important message is that users should take immediate action if they forget to take a pill. And, the report says advisers also must inform women that the pill does not prevent diseases spread through sex.

The Johns Hopkins University report says getting birth control pills should be made as easy as possible. It says family planning centers should be within reasonable distance of women seeking the pills. It also says the pills should always be in supply. And it says local communities should be mainly responsible for providing the pills.

This VOA Special English DEVELOPMENT REPORT was written by Caty Weaver.