The termination of a pregnancy. This may happen on its own (spontaneous abortion or ‘miscarriage’) or it can be the result of a medical procedure (induced abortion). In countries where abortion is illegal, like Uganda, abortion services can be dangerous. If it is not performed by a medical doctor or gynecologist, it is often done in a rushed and unhygienic manner that puts women’s health at great risk. An abortion is safe when it is performed by professional, trained and well-equipped service providers in a hygienic setting.
Glossary
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Abstinence
To avoid doing something. For example, you can decide to abstain from all sexual activities or only from sexual intercourse or from drugs or alcohol. Not engaging in those sexual activities that can put a person at risk of infections, including STIs and HIV, or pregnancy.
Acne
A skin problem experienced mainly during puberty and marked by a lot of pimples or spots, especially in the face.
Adolescence
Adolescence is the period of transition between puberty and adulthood. Adolescence is roughly considered to be the period between 12 and 19 years of age. It refers to the time between the beginning of sexual maturation (puberty) and adulthood. During this period, adolescents are expected to become capable of adult behaviour and response, and autonomous decision-making. Adolescents experience not only physical growth and change but also emotional, psychological, social and mental change and growth.
AIDS
Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome, a fatal disease in which the human immune system is weakened by the HIV virus and cannot guard the individual against any disease-causing organisms, even those that can be treated with drugs. AIDS is the final stage of an infection with the HIV virus (Human Immuno-deficiency Virus), which is transmitted through blood and bodily fluids (semen and vaginal fluids). AIDS in itself is not the cause of death. People who die of AIDS actually die of other infections to which the body does not have any resistance as a result of its weakened immune system.
Anaemia
A health condition in which the blood is ‘weak and thin’. It is often caused by lack of oxygen in body cells and organs, which can result in tiredness, pale gums, tongue, eyelids, palms and soles of the feet, and lack of energy and fainting.
Anal Sex
Sexual intercourse not via the vagina, but via the anus of the partner (male or female). Anal intercourse without a condom is an extremely high-risk behaviour for the spread of HIV and STIs. Blood vessels in the anal opening may rupture and blood may mingle with semen of a partner with STI or HIV.
Antenatal
The period before birth. For example, antenatal care is the care needed by a woman throughout her pregnancy.
Antiseptic Soaps
Soaps that contain a medical substance that prevents the growth of bacteria. Antiseptics are used to prevent infections.
Anus
The opening of the body where food waste (faeces) comes out.
Assertiveness
To state something clearly, confidently and strongly without being hostile, rude or nasty. To assert yourself is to stand up and speak out for yourself.
Attitude
Feeling or opinion about something or someone, or a way of behaving that follows from this feeling or opinion.
Autonomy
To freely determine your own decisions and course in life. This implies freedom of thought, expression and action. Our autonomy is limited by the right of others to have autonomy. It is a rights-based concept.
Behaviour
The manner of conducting yourself; the response of individuals or groups to their environment.
Business
A business can be a person’s profession or trade. If someone has his or her own business, then this refers to his or her own commercial activity.
Business Canvas
The business canvas is a strategic virtual document to develop new businesses.
Business Plan
A business plan is a document describing how a new business or activity will achieve its goals.
Calendar Method
A traditional method of natural family planning (also known as rhythm method). The fertile phase (the days around the ovulation when an mature egg cell is present) of the menstrual cycle must be determined by calculating the length of at least six previous menstrual cycles. To prevent pregnancy, this method requires not having sexual intercourse during the calculated fertile days of a woman’s menstrual cycle. When used alone, the calendar method is very unreliable, especially for girls and women with irregular menstrual cycles, and may be overly restrictive for some couples. This method does not prevent STIs, including HIV.
Conception
Beginning of pregnancy, when the male sperm cells fertilizes the female egg.
Condom
A sheath of latex rubber worn on the erect penis during sexual intercourse (also called rubber or protector). The condom must be put on before the penis touches any part of the woman’s external genitals to prevent the mixing of semen with either the vaginal, oral or anal regions. It is the most effective and safe contraceptive method to prevent pregnancy, HIV, and other STIs.
Contraceptives
Contraceptives prevent you from becoming pregnant when you have sex. The safest methods for young people are the contraceptive pill, condoms (both female and male), the IUD and injections. None of these methods are permanent; when you stop using them, you are fertile again.
CV
A CV (stands for curriculum vitae) is a written document showing a persons’ experiences and qualifications.
Diaphragm
A dome-shaped rubber cup (also called cervical cap) used in conjunction with spermicidal gel/cream that covers the opening to the cervix and uterus to prevent sperm cells from entering the uterus. It is effective at preventing pregnancy but does not protect against STIs, including HIV.
Ejaculation
The release of semen containing sperm cells (if the man has not been sterilized) from a man’s penis. If the man is sterilized, the semen does not contain sperm cells. Rhythmic contractions in males that propel the semen out of the penis in spurts.
Embryo
The term used between the second and eighth week of pregnancy to refer to the mass of cells that will become a foetus and, after birth, a baby.
Emergency Contraception
A contraceptive method that can be used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse, for example, if the condom broke or slipped. To be effective in preventing pregnancy, emergency contraception must be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sexual intercourse. Emergency contraception does not cause abortion and does not prevent STIs, including HIV.
Entrepreneur
A person starting a new business activity is called an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurship
The process of starting a new business activity or organization is called entrepreneurship.
Family Planning
Family planning means planning how to improve the quality of family life. It includes:
1. taking decisions on regulating and spacing childbirth;
2. choosing suitable contraceptive methods;
3. helping childless couples to have children;
4. counselling of both parents and would-be parents;
5. developing the necessary parental, social and family budgeting skills.
Female Condom
A polyurethane pouch that has two flexible rings on either end. One ring is inserted into the vagina and the other ring stays outside the vagina. The ring helps to hold the female condom in place. They can be purchased without a prescription and can be used during anal intercourse as well. Female condoms can be inserted before starting the foreplay, and should not be used at the same time as male condoms. With perfect use, they can be 95% effective in preventing pregnancy and can also prevent some STIs.
Fertile
The ability to create a baby. Both men and women can be fertile.
Fertility
The ability to reproduce.
Flirting
To behave as if (sexually) attracted to someone, although not seriously.
Foetus
The term used to refer to a baby in the uterus (womb) from the ninth week of pregnancy until birth.
Friend
A person who you know well and who you like a lot, but who is usually not a member of your family. Someone who is not an enemy and who you can trust.
Gender
Refers to widely shared ideas and expectations (social and cultural norms) concerning women and men. These include ideas about how women and men should behave in various situations.
Gender Equality
Gender equality means equal treatment of women and men in laws, policies and behaviours, and equal access of women and men to resources and services within families, education, health services, communities and society at large.
Gender Roles
The particular economic and social roles that a society considers appropriate for women and men. Men are mainly identified with productive roles that tend to be sequential, while women have more roles: domestic responsibilities, productive work and community activities, which often have to be carried out simultaneously. Gender roles and responsibilities can vary between cultures and can change over time. In almost all societies, women’s roles tend to be undervalued.
Goal
A goal is that thing a person wants to achieve. It is an aim or desired result
HIV
The human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive.
Hormonal Methods
Another type of contraceptive methods (as opposed to barrier methods) that work by changing a woman’s body chemistry. Certain chemical substances in hormonal contraceptive methods mimic the oestrogen and/or progestin hormones that females naturally produce. The contraceptives that include oestrogen prevent the release of an egg from the ovaries, while the methods containing progestin make the uterus an unfriendly environment for sperm and implantation. Hormonal contraceptive methods do not prevent STIs, including HIV.
Humiliate
Make (someone) feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and self-respect, especially publicly.
Identity
Who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group which make them different from others.
Implantation
When a fertilized egg attaches itself to the lining or wall or the uterus (womb). This is the beginning of a pregnancy.
Implants
A (hormonal) contraceptive method in which six small tubes containing hormones are put under the skin in a women’s upper arm by a specially trained health worker (for example, Norplant). Implants prevent pregnancy for about five years, but can be removed sooner if the woman wants to become pregnant. They do not prevent STIs, including HIV.
Infertility
Inability to create a baby or to reproduce, which can be temporary. When permanent, it is called sterility. Both men and women can be infertile.
Intimacy
Feelings of closeness and trust with another person.
IUD
Intra-uterine device is a small piece of copper placed inside the uterus by a professional health worker in a health center. It gives protection for up to 10 years, but is not very suitable for young girls.
Lining
During the body’s preparation for pregnancy, the endometrium in the uterus will grow thicker. This is called the lining: it grows and is shed during the menstrual cycle.
Love
To have strong feelings of affection for another adult and be romantically and sexually attracted to them, or to feel great affection for a friend or person in your family; strong feelings of attraction towards, and affection for, another adult, or great affection for a friend or family member; a person that you feel attracted to.
Manipulate
Handle or control (a tool, mechanism, etc.), typically in a skillful manner: “he manipulated the dials”.
Market Opportunities
A market opportunity is a newly defined need or demand which you can address, because no one else is offering this yet.
Market Research or Assessment
Market research or assessment means gathering information about a new market or about the habits of clients. It is a very important part of starting a new business.
Menstruation (or menstrual period, monthly period)
Periodical cycle in women in which an egg is released from the ovary once a month, and the uterine wall is thickened to prepare for the fertilized egg to settle in it. If fertilization does not occur, then the uterine lining is shed with discharge of blood after 3-6 days.
Menstruation starts during adolescence, mostly between the ages of 10-15, and ends between the ages of 45-55.
Menstruation Cycle
The monthly process in the female body, which involves the release of an egg, the preparation of the body for pregnancy and the release of the lining of the uterus if no pregnancy occurs. In a 28-day menstrual cycle, the egg leaves the ovary approximately 14 days after the first day of a woman’s period.
Ovulation
The release of an egg from one of the ovaries into the fallopian tube. It usually occurs 14 days before the next menstrual period.
Penis
The male sex organ, also used to pass urine as well as semen.
Period
See menstruation.
Personality
Personality reflects the way people are seen from the outside, also called their reputation. Personality can be defined by characteristics such as self-confidence, sociability, integrity, charm and creativity, or their opposites. There are often important disparities between people’s identity and their reputation.
Pill
A hormonal contraceptive method that prevents the monthly release of an egg from the woman’s ovaries (ovulation). The pill must be taken every day, except for the ‘stop-week’, in which a woman does not take the pill and a menstruation will occur. This contraceptive method does not prevent STIs, including HIV. If you have forgotten to take the pill: keep on taking the pill for the rest of the month until you start with the next series of pills. For protection against pregnancy, abstinence or another contraceptive method (condom) needs to be used, because protection by the pill during the actual period is not certain when you have missed a pill.
Pre-ejaculation Fluid
A small amount of fluid at the tip of a man’s penis as it becomes erect (also called pre-cum). This small drop is called pre-ejaculation fluid because it appears before ejaculation. It can contain sperm cells and can cause pregnancy.
Pregnancy Test
A test to determine whether or not a woman is pregnant. Pregnancy tests come in two varieties: a urine test and a blood test. The urine test is by far the most widely used and can easily be used by every woman within 10-14 days after unprotected sexual intercourse.
Premature Ejaculation
Early ejaculation when a man cannot recognize that he is about to ejaculate and, therefore, is unable to control it.
Puberty
Puberty refers to the onset of sexual maturation (girls age 8-10, boys age 10-12). Puberty is the period when the child experiences physical, hormonal and sexual changes and becomes capable of reproduction. It is associated with rapid growth and the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics. Adolescence is the period of transition between puberty and adulthood.
Pulling Out
This is an unreliable method of birth control whereby a guy pulls his penis out of his partner’s vagina just before ejaculation (also known as withdrawal or coitus interruptus). It is not recommended, but it is better than not using any method of birth control. This method does not protect against STIs and HIV.
Secrecy
The action of keeping something secret or the state of being kept secret.
Self-awareness
An awareness and understanding of your own being, feelings and emotions.
Self-esteem
A person’s sense of his or her own worth and value. Feeling good about yourself, respecting yourself and trusting your capabilities.
Solidarity
The integration, and degree and type of integration, shown by a society or group with people and their neighbors.It refers to the ties in a society – social relations – that bind people to one another.
Sperm Cells
The male’s reproductive cells. These are tiny cells, produced in the testicles beginning at puberty and normally continuing well into a man’s 70s, which can fertilize a woman’s egg, leading to pregnancy. When a male ejaculates, between two to seven million sperm cells leave his body.
Spermicide
Spermicide is a contraceptive method. It is a slippery cream or gel that kills sperm cells. It comes in a variety of forms, including gel, cream, foam, suppositories and film, which can be purchased in most drug or grocery stores without a prescription. Typically, it is used together with another method like a diaphragm or condoms. You can also purchase condoms that are already lubricated with spermicide.
Talents
A talent refers to a skill or ability. Something a person is really good at.
Testosterone
The male hormone produced in a man’s body, regulating man’s fertility and causing male secondary sexual characteristics.
Transferable Skills
Transferable skills are skills which you can take from one situation to another. You can use them in social life, at school or at a job.
Tubal ligation
A surgical contraceptive method in which a female’s fallopian tubes are cut to prevent ova (eggs) from entering the uterus. A woman will continue to menstruate when she has had a tubal ligation. It is a permanent procedure and is also referred to as female sterilization or ‘getting tubes tied’. Similar to its male version, vasectomy, it provides no protection against STI’s or HIV.
Uterus
The muscular organ inside a woman’s belly in which the foetus develops during pregnancy. Also called the womb.
Vaginal Fluids
The discharge of fluid that comes out of a woman’s vagina. Strangely coloured and bad smelling discharge may indicate an infection.
Values
Beliefs held by one person or a group of people. Values shape people’s opinions, attitudes and actions, as well as their ways of thinking and are often influenced by a person’s family, religion, culture and life experiences.
Withdrawal
A highly unreliable method of birth control that occurs when a guy pulls his penis out of his partner’s vagina just before ejaculation, also known as ‘pulling out’ or ‘coitus interruptus’. It is not recommended at all, but it is better than not using any method of birth control. This method does not protect against STIs, including HIV.
Womb
Another term for uterus.