Infertility in India - levels, patterns and consequences: Priorities for social science research

Abstract

Infertility has been relatively neglected as both a health problem and a subject for social science research in South Asia, as in the developing world more generally. The general thrust of both programmes and research has been on the correlates of high fertility and its regulation rather than on understanding the context of infertility, its causes and consequences. Yet, we know that infertility affects a relatively large number of couples at some point in their reproductive lives -globally, between 50 and 80 million couples [1]-- and has a variety of biological
and behavioural determinants. Moreover, in pronatalist cultures such as those of India, and South Asia more generally, the consequences of infertility for women can be devastating.