ISSUES
: Our Changing Population
Chapter 2: Global population issues
33
clients to make an informed,
voluntary decision to be sterilised
and counselling services are offered
to help them make that choice.
There is, however, evidence to
suggest that in most camp settings,
these protocols are overlooked or
violated for the sake of convenience
or due to high case loads. Botched
sterilisation surgeries have been
reported on a number of occasions
in India, especially in remote and
deprived areas. Level of care and
negligence has remained a major
concern more generally in the
delivery of family planning services
and particularly those requiring
clinical assistance.
Challenges ahead
The Indian population is still
growing at an annual rate of
1.2%. Larger states such as Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan are
predicted to almost double in size
over the next 30 years. On the
other hand, young couples in India
increasingly want small families.
And given persistently high rates of
early marriages and long exposure
in the reproductive life, sterilisation
is a highly effective method that
limits the number of unwanted
pregnancies and abortions. In fact,
there is a high use of sterilisation
among women who have just given
a birth and those who have had an
abortion.
Undoubtedly, a long-term solution
is educating and empowering
women to make informed choices.
There is a dire need for considering
innovative strategies to promoting
family
planning
information,
education
and
counselling
services – especially in rural areas
where women are often forced to
surrender to the state-sponsored
and
incentive-based
family
planning programmes.
Programme managers need to
ensure gender balance in the
promotion
of
contraceptive
methods. That couldmean revisiting
vasectomy as the preferred option,
since it is relatively less risky than
tubectomy or laparoscopy.
With such a high demand for
reproductive care, it is essential
that health systems offering family
planning services at various levels
are systematically monitored and
evaluated to ensure that quality
of care standards are met. Even
though these camps might be
coercing some into sterilisation,
there is evidently high demand for
the procedure. So the standard of
care on offer must be guaranteed
or more women will be risking their
lives.
14 November 2014
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The above information is
reprinted with kind permission
from
The Conversation
. Please
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Trust (UK)
“The Indian population
is still growing at an
annual rate of 1.2%.
Larger states such as
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar
and Rajasthan are
predicted to almost
double in size over the
next 30 years”
“Undoubtedly, a
long-term solution
is educating and
empowering women to
make informed choices”
