This document presents a rapid drought impact assessment that was carried out
by UNICEF’s India Country Office in eight states with the aim of providing insights
into drought management practices and their effectiveness. It identifies UNICEF’s

The Radiologist Peered into his ultrasound scanner and beamed. "Congratulations, "he announced. "It's a girl." Rajendra Jain could feel his heart sink. Two daughters already and now another on the way. He glanced furtively

It is important to understand the social, physical, and administrative environment in which the grassroots components of a health program function and provide services.

Recent publicity about unethical trials raises a number of questions about research in developing countries.

One of the purposes of family planning programmes in developing countries is to provide for the unmet needs of couples for contraception.

Contraception as a behavioral phenomenon has been the focus of many population researches, during the last half a century. In fact, explaining contraceptive behavior is a complex theoretical effort. Learning, motivation,

Acceptance and sustained use of family planning especially of modern spacing methods have generally been low in developing countries particularly in India. The use rate for modern spacing methods was only 6 per cent among the eligible couples in India in 1992 (IIPS, 1995).

Doctors in India are questioning the ethics of a study which observed the natural course of precancerous uterine cervical lesions without treatment in women who had not given written consent to take part.

A woman would prefer to prevent an unwanted pregnancy rather than having an abortion or carrying the pregnancy to term. No amount of legal or religious restrictions, social stigma or lack of access to professional care can stop her if she decides to seek termination of an unplanned pregnancy.

The paper uses the National Family Health Survey (NFHS, 1992-93) data to examine the extent to which sex preferences have constrained the success of the family planning programme and inhibited the acceptance of contraception in the different states of the country.