Information on the determinants of contraceptive failure and the effects or outcome of such failure has important implications for the study of fertility as well as for women's health.

The existing structural nature of women's work (domestic as well as non-domestic) has severe built-in hazards for women (reproductive and otherwise) which no amount of first rate quality of care, total coverage and/or access to health services alone can deal with.

The MCH services are offered at Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and their subcenters in the rural areas, and by general hospitals, women's and children's hospital and MCH centers run by State Health Departments and also through Municipal and Voluntary Organizations in the urban areas.

The health of the general population as well as specific groups (infants, women, etc) has for long been an important concern for development studies.

In many developing countries, women's activities, traditionally confined to the household, have changed over time.

The single most important problem that India is facing now is the uncontrolled growth of population. In spite of availability of a wide range of contraceptives and mass media campaigns and IEC programs, the population control remains a distant dream to achieve.

In countries where emergency contraception is offered, its availability and use vary widely, according to such factors as regulations and policies regarding the method, providers' and women's understanding of and attitudes toward it, and cost.

On the World Population Day this year, there were two new features which are welcome: the first is the concern for environment in the context of population growth; and the second is the candid admission by the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare that we must get rid of the tyranny of fami

With 58 percent of married couples in Asia and Oceania using a contraceptive method in 1990 (United Nations, 1994), contraception - a novelty two decades ago - has become the norm in much of the region.