Q.Explain the need of Reproductive Health. Also add a note on medical termination of pregnancy. OR Describe human male reproductive system with the help of diagram.

Reproductive health means total well-being in all reproduction-related aspects, supported by measures like safe MTP services; alternatively, the male reproductive system's organs (testes, ducts, glands) together produce and deliver sperm.

Part 1 — Need for Reproductive Health:

Reproductive health refers to a total well-being — physical, emotional, behavioural, and social — in all matters relating to the reproductive system, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. A society in which every individual has such well-being is described as 'reproductively healthy'. Reproductive health is needed because:

• It ensures physically and functionally normal reproductive organs, functioning properly, in both sexes.
• It ensures emotional and behavioural maturity in relation to sexual and reproductive matters — for instance, appropriate attitudes towards sex-related issues like sexual intercourse, pregnancy, child bearing, and STDs.
• It ensures socially acceptable behaviour, and access to correct information for both males and females, about their reproductive organs, reproduction-related processes, and safe/hygienic sexual practices.
• Countries/governments run awareness programmes, provide medical assistance/facilities (both governmental and non-governmental), and legalise certain procedures (like MTP), all aimed at building a reproductively healthy society, which in turn contributes to controlling population growth and maternal/infant mortality.

Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP): MTP, or induced/intentional abortion, is the deliberate termination of pregnancy before full term. In India, the MTP Act was legalised in 1971, with certain conditions, largely to check the population and to reduce illegal/unsafe abortions that were a major cause of maternal mortality/morbidity. MTP is considered relatively safe during the first trimester (up to 12 weeks); second-trimester abortions are riskier. MTPs are also useful in cases where pregnancy resulted from rape, or where continuing the pregnancy could be harmful/fatal to the mother, or where prenatal tests reveal foetal abnormalities. Although MTP has helped avoid unwanted pregnancies, its misuse for illegal sex-selective female foeticide is a major social concern and is legally banned.

OR — Human Male Reproductive System:

(Diagram: a labelled sagittal view of the male pelvic region would show the two testes inside the scrotal sac; the epididymis coiled along the back of each testis; the vas deferens looping up over the urinary bladder to join the duct of the seminal vesicle, forming the ejaculatory duct; the ejaculatory duct opening into the urethra, which passes through the prostate gland (surrounding it) and then through the penis; and the paired bulbourethral (Cowper's) glands opening into the urethra near its base.)

The male reproductive system is located in the pelvic region and includes:

• A pair of testes: oval organs situated outside the abdominal cavity in a pouch called the scrotum, which maintains a temperature about 2–2.5 °C lower than normal body temperature, necessary for spermatogenesis. Each testis contains seminiferous tubules (site of sperm production) and interstitial Leydig cells (secrete testosterone). …