More than 2,400 people from 62 countries will attend the International Symposium on Natural Fertility Recognition (NFR) taking place September 22-24 at the University of Navarra. The meeting is held online and in person at the auditorium of the School of Medicine. The Symposium is organized by the academic center at partnership with the Universidad de los Andes and the project Veritas Amoris.

"It seems to us that this moment we are living in our society, where the approach to sexuality is very superficial, is optimal to offer a reflection on the deepest meaning of human sexuality centered on the person," said Dr. Luis Chiva, director of the department of Gynecology of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and one of the organizers of congress. Professor Chiva insists that self-knowledge of the fertility window "is an invaluable tool for two people who love each other, as it makes it easier for them to know when they can look for a pregnancy or distance it, and it will also allow them to be a health monitor when evaluating any pathology," he said. Luis Chiva affirms that "the RNF is a way of understanding how sexuality develops within the couple, being respectful with ecology, with the menstrual cycle and showing all the capacity for donation, for the perpetuation of love".

Among the speakers at the symposium are, among others, Josep Standford (University of Utah, USA), Rene Leiva (University of Ontario, Canada), Christopher West (high school of Theology of the Body, USA), Juan José Pérez Soba (high school Pontifical John Paul II, Rome), René Écochard (Claude Bernard Lyon University, France), Monsignor Mario Iceta, Archbishop of Burgos and expert in bioethics, and Marguerite Duane (Georgetown University, USA).

The RNF, a subject at Georgetown University

Marguerite Duane, a family physician and associate professor, is also co-founder of FACTS, an organization dedicated to the knowledge dissemination and teaching of the RNF among health care students and professionals. In 2010 she launched a subject at Georgetown University on this subject, in which more than 200 students are enrolled annually. In her discussion paper, the American will use this success story to highlight the importance of "educating the next generation of physicians and health professionals" in Natural Fertility Recognition. "However, there is a need to educate the general population in this area, which could be filled by a university course designed for a non-specialist audience," she qualifies.

"The students are amazed to recognize the huge gap in their knowledge about this issue and to see how they learn from our training respect to this issue and see how they learn with our subject about the natural recognition of fertility, so important for women's health," she explains.

The Georgetown University professor says that launching a subject that addresses this topic has been a pioneering yet successful endeavor. "The network of physicians and health professionals who share their knowledge with the students, the team advisor, composed of experts in fertility recognition, and the students have contributed to the success of the program," she concludes.