Injectable contraceptives: Perspectives and experiences of women and health care providers in India

This report is the result of a study that aimed to shed light on the feasibility and acceptability of making injectable contraceptives more widely available to women in India. The study focused on injectable contraceptive users, new method adopters, and healthcare providers drawn from the facilities of a range of reproductive health. Healthcare providers were, for the most part, in favor of offering injectable contraceptives, however, they argued strongly for certain prerequisites, such as comprehensive and sensitive counseling and effective follow-up. Findings further suggest that there is a demand for injectable contraceptives among women, and that both women and healthcare providers perceive a number of advantages associated with the method. We conclude that the inclusion of injectable contraceptives in the basket of methods offered under the national program, along with appropriate emphasis on healthcare provider training and on ensuring informed choice, will expand women’s contraceptive choices and help to ensure their reproductive rights

Assessing abortion-related experiences and needs in four districts of Maharashtra and Rajasthan, 2006

Recognizing the urgent need to enable rural women to acquire accessible and high-quality abortion services in India, a consortium of organizations—including the Population Council—has come together with the goal of increasing access to legal, safe, and comprehensive abortion services, including postabortion family planning, in the public health system, especially among the rural poor. One of its key activities was to develop a comprehensive and evidence-based abortion care model suitable for rural women. The aim of this report is to shed light on community-level perspectives about abortion services and probe the experiences of women who had undergone abortion, to better understand women’s awareness of and attitudes about abortion and their perceptions about the quality of care received, including in public sector facilities in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Findings highlight the fact that access to abortion remains limited for most women in the settings covered in this study. The report states that policy and programmatic action is urgently required if access to safe abortion is to improv

Engaging parents to promote girls\u27 transition to secondary education: Evidence from a cluster randomised trial in rural Gujarat, India

The Population Council and partners, with the support of the Human Dignity Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, implemented a pilot intervention in India─Project Sankalp─to assess the acceptability and feasibility of engaging parents and communities to promote girls’ secondary education. The project\u27s aim was to measure its effectiveness in improving adolescent girls’ transition to secondary education, their attendance at school, and learning outcomes. Findings show that the effect of Project Sankalp on creating an enabling environment for girls to pursue secondary education was mixed. On the positive side, the project showed success in raising girls’ educational aspirations; improving parental support for their secondary education; and raising girls’ awareness of school management committees. However, there was no evidence of any effect on girls’ agency in matters concerning their schooling, awareness and utilization of the benefits available from school, and the time committed to school-related activities. These findings underscore the need for a longer-term engagement with girls and their parents than was possible in Project Sankalp, or for more intensive efforts that will enable girls to make effective use of the knowledge and skills they gain, and give parents more time to translate the messages they receive into real life practices

Gender-biased sex selection in India: A review of the situation and interventions to counter the practice

This report on gender-biased sex selection in India is divided into six chapters, including an introduction in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 describes the laws and policies adopted by India to address gender-biased sex selection, as well as those intended to support and empower women and girls. Chapter 3 analyzes the trends and geographic variation in the sex ratio at birth and in the child sex ratio. Chapter 4 briefly describes the socioeconomic differences and factors underlying distorted sex ratios and gender-biased sex selection in India, and the social consequences of these practices. Experiences in implementing the PCPNDT Act, initiatives intended to restrict and monitor the use of technology for prenatal sex-selection, initiatives intended to build gender equality, and advocacy measures are described in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 summarizes the key findings and highlights promising areas for further research

Supporting girls in their transition to secondary education: An exploratory study of the family, school and community environments of adolescent girls in Gujarat

Despite government commitment to universal secondary education in India, few adolescents transition to and successfully complete secondary education. In India, limited efforts have been directed at parents to promote positive attitudes toward education and school completion. Recognizing the need for identifying effective intervention strategies to engage parents and communities to promote secondary education for girls, the Population Council and partners are pilot-testing an intervention to support adolescent girls’ transition to and retention in secondary education. Located in the state of Gujarat, the intervention focuses on girls in the last year of primary school and first year of secondary school and their parents as well as teachers and the wider community. The school experiences of adolescent girls, and the family, school, and community environments in which they are pursuing their studies, described in this report, draw on a baseline survey conducted in 90 villages in Gujarat. The objective was to explore school experiences of adolescent girls in the last year of primary and first year of secondary school, and assess the extent to which a supportive environment for schooling was available to them at the family, school, and community levels

Implementing the Janani Suraksha Yojana: Perspectives and experiences of Accredited Social Health Activists in Rajasthan

This report is the result of an explanatory study of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) conducted as part of a large-scale evaluation of the Janani Suraksha Yojana in rural and urban settings in Rajasthan. The findings of the study suggest training ASHAs more comprehensively about their rights and responsibilities, raising awareness of lesser known best practices regarding maternal and newborn care, emphasizing ASHA’s engagement in promoting postpartum care, and making special efforts to increase the credibility of ASHAs in the community

Effects of the Janani Suraksha Yojana on maternal and newborn care practices: Women\u27s experiences in Rajasthan

Report on an evaluation of Janani Suraksha Yojana, a program to encourage institutional delivery and provide access to care during pregnancy and in the postpartum period

Increasing access to safe abortion in rural Maharashtra: Outcomes of a comprehensive abortion care model

This assessment of a Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) model was conducted by the Population Council on behalf of the Consortium for Safe Abortions in India. The goal of the Consortium is to increase access to legal, safe, and comprehensive abortion services, including post-abortion family planning, in the public health system, and especially among the rural poor. This report describes the CAC model implemented in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, and examines the extent to which the model improved (a) the availability and quality of abortion services in public sector facilities, and (b) women’s awareness and experiences with regard to abortion services. It also sheds light on progress in the achievement of such longer term objectives as a shift to public sector facilities and trained providers, and a reduction in second trimester abortions. Several lessons can be drawn from the experience of implementing the CAC model, which could be relevant for its modification and up-scaling: a focus on facility strengthening, provider training, and community awareness-building is a promising approach; and the intervention was feasible to implement and can be integrated into existing government services without much additional investment