The Quality of Care in the Sterilization Camps of Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Sterilization for men and women is the most commonly used contraceptive method both in India at large and in Uttar Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh (as well as nationally), three of every four contraceptive users have chosen sterilization, and about 13 percent of all married women 13-49 years of age have been sterilized. From the beginning of the public program in Uttar Pradesh in 1956 through 1994, a total of 8,136,167 sterilizations were performed. During the 1990s, the annual number of sterilizations performed in the state has averaged about 400,000, of which about 13 percent have been vasectomies and the remainder tubectomies (GOI, MOHFW 1994). About three-fourths of female sterilizations involve laparoscopy, and nearly all vasectomies involve a scalpel incision. No-scalpel vasectomy has only recently been introduced in India.