Extending quality maternal care into the community: What is needed?

Abstract

As we stand at the threshold of the new reproductive health approach, there is growing recognition that a woman's health and that of her unborn foetus has a profound impact on the overall health status of the community. While the constitution of India pronounces an equal status and opportunity for all citizens, there exists major disparity; be it female foeticide, malnutrition and anaemia in the girl child; adolescent sexuality, unwed pregnancies and its associated risks; the increasing threat of RTIS, STD, HIV/AIDS; deaths due to back alley2 abortions and neglected child births or the aftermath of an unclean delivery; these are but a few of the telling indicators of the neglect of women. To remedy these disproportionate effects on the health of women which spills over to their off-spring as well, the wide mandate of reproductive health attempts to focus on the 'life span approach' and on the quality of life of the woman. It needs not only a constellation of methods and services but also the unstinted support, down from the policy makers to those at the grassroots, who are the actual implementors.