Discuss how preconception care contributes to healthy pregnancy and positive pregnancy outcomes.
As different prenatal variables have now been linked to adolescent and adult-onset disease, there is then a growing recognition of fetal origins of adult disease. Prenatal variables like nutritional insufficiency and toxic exposure are key causative agents of a variety of obstetrical problems, pediatric chronic disorders, and maybe some genetic abnormalities. With the growing consciousness that modifiable environmental factors, rather than genetic factors, are the etiological cause of most serious illness, it is then possible to prevent different mental and physical health issues by modifying environmental circumstances prior to conception. In addition, recent evidence show that modifiable environmental factors also highly influence our health also through interacting with our genome; hence, the clear need and possibility of preventing multiple illnesses through proper modifications in the said variables. The need modification is, simply put, according to Genuis et al., “for any functional system including the human organism to develop and thrive, it must receive determinants which are required and avoid those which are harmful.” And these shall occur in the whole span of one’s life but most especially in the most crucial part of one’s growth and development, the germinal period up to the first trimester.
However, how can one achieve these modifications? It is through preconception care which will ensure that the mother, of whom the baby will be conceived, is ready and prepared prior to gestation to support the will-be growing individual, making sure the required is received and the harmful is avoided. Through preconception care, a woman’s overall health is safeguarded to be adequate for her to support a healthy pregnancy all throughout even before conception. This will secure, not only the child’s health and safety, since majority of the offspring’s development takes place early in the pregnancy, but also the mother’s up until she needs to deliver the baby.
Reference
Genuis, S. & Genuis, R. (2016). Preconception Care: A New Standard of Care within Maternal Health Services. BioMed Research International, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/6150976.