Rural Women Embrace Cycle Beads For Birth Control

Women of Isuochi Community in Abia State, have expressed some sort of relief with the introduction of cycle beads for natural family planning.

The relief came after listening to a lecture, entitled: “Natural Family Planning; using Cycle Beads”, organised by Umuada Igbo Nigeria, in collaboration with Ipas, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) as part of a sensitisation program on “Women Reproductive Health and Right” recently in Isuochi, Abia State.

The women who confessed being skeptical on the use of artificial family planning methods due largely to its monetary involvement and the attendant side effects some of the methods present when wrongly applied, said, that the teaching on the cycle beads as a reliable alternative to the dreaded artificial methods, was timely.

Mrs. Orji, one of the participants at the program, who noted that family planning had been a problem, revealed that making ends meet had not been easy because of the economic situation in the country and given the number of children she has, yet not knowing how to stop raising more children since age is on her side and the tendency to have more babies still high, remains her worry.

She therefore confesses that she feels some sort of relief to learn the use of cycle beads and natural family planning method, from Umuada Igbo Nigeria, affirming that it will help them tremendously.

Earlier in the lecture, Mrs. Kate Chibuzor and Mrs. Ifeoma Ogbu had explained that cycle beads system involves the use of 32 beads by a woman to monitor her menstrual period so as to determine the safe and unsafe periods for sexual intercourse.

“Some people see their menstrual flow for four days, others experience five or six days flow. This will enable you to know when or not to have sex with your husband depending on what you want. If you are able to count the cycle beads correctly, it is safer than any other means of family planning” they said.

Explaining further, they said that cycle beads is based on the standard method of family planning, noting that studies have shown that the method is more than 95% effective when use correctly, noting that less than 5% of first year users when they keep track of their circle days and  avoid unprotected sex during fertile days get pregnant.

The duo advised participants to adopt cycle beads or any other safe family planning method to avoid being caught up in the web of maternal mortality.

It should be noted that cycle beads are for women who have regular menstrual cycle between 26 and 32 days.