Women's Health by The National Library of Medicine

This film shows an operation performed on a woman pregnant with triplets at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles, California. One of the fetuses has died prior to birth. Doctors are shown scrubbing in preparation for surgery, then performing a laparotomy for delivery. Afterwards, the procedure for restoring the patient’s abdomen is shown. The stillborn fetus is examined, and a diagnosis is made of an interstitio-isthmal pregnancy.

Celso-Ramon Garcia, M.D., moderator, Sheldon Segal, M.D., pro oral contraceptives, and Louis Lasagna, M.D., cautious on oral contraceptives, discuss this therapy in a round-table, studio setting. Two discussants and a moderator present positive and negative views on the use of oral contraceptives. In their favor, one out of every three American women of childbearing age is using them with apparently very little risk. They are easy, convenient, and contribute to the overall health of the woman. Unabated population growth is slowed. Metabolic changes cease when the drug is stopped.

This is an unique and historically valuable film depicting the important medical aid that the Frontier Nursing Service provided in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. The Service provided child hygiene, midwifery, sick nursing, medical care, dentistry, public health, and emergency surgery for poor, mountain people. Film shows patients' and nurses' cabins, children, town, and gives flavor of their lives, language, and problems.

This film profiles a Homemaker Service that provides assistance to families and individuals in their own homes. The camera follows one homemaker as she cares for the families assigned to her. She is shown as she shops, prepares meals, and does light housework for an elderly couple who would otherwise be unable to live on their own. The homemaker works under the supervision of a public health nurse. When a Puerto Rican mother of six is injured, the homemaker looks after the children and helps with the housework as the mother recuperates.

This film describes and documents examples of family planning and voluntary sterilization programs in Bangladesh, El Salvador, the Philippines, Thailand, and the U.S.A. The opening sequence shows doctors and nurses preparing an operating room and instruments. Dr. Malcolm Potts introduces the topic, noting that in his experience in more than 50 countries, people are interested in these options once they have the number of children they want, even when local leaders believe they will not be.

Narrated by a doctor originally from Cuba who has come to work in public health in the state of Kentucky, this presentation focuses on staff and clinics associated with a family planning program established by the Kentucky Bureau for Health Services. The program serves men and women living in isolated and poverty-prone areas of the state. The program affirms the right of women to make decisions about their fertility and is based on the principle that every patient and person is deserving of concern, respect, and a genuine interest in his or her problem. The life and career of Dr.

The necessity of family planning and population control in India are presented. Children suffer in families that cannot fully support them, and the country as a whole cannot achieve prosperity when jobs, food supplies, medical care, and housing are not plentiful enough for a large and rapidly growing population. The film urges planned parenthood as one element of the solution to healthier children and a healthier nation.

This silent, animated educational film introduces the relationship between sexual intercourse and conception. Animated drawings illustrate how conception occurs and the manner in which various birth control devices, surgical methods, and the contraceptive pill function. The film is without spoken commentary and is designed to be used by professional personnel. An instruction guide was produced for use with the film but is not held in the NLM collection.

Focusing on Bogotá, Colombia as a case study, this film discusses reasons for rural-to-urban migration, and the consequences of that population shift. Homes and land are scarcer, and rural farming skills don't suit urban factory jobs. Large families aren't the asset they might be in other settings. The film profiles a successful "community-based distribution" (CBD) program sponsored by Profamilia, which assures easy access to contraceptives, providing an alternative to a large family that may not be the best choice for all households.