India has the distinction of being the first country in the developing world to initiate a family planning programme-it later came to be called the Family Welfare Programme (FWP)-with a view to bring down the country's fertility level and contain population growth.

Breast-feeding is the most important form of infant nutrition. Unfortunately there has been a steady decline in breast-feeding practices in the post industrialized era. Breast milk substitutes, a major threat to breast-feeding, are indeed a big business.

The women's groups were able to actively agitate against population control policies at conference on environment held in Rio-de-Janeiro in 1992, at conference on human rights at Vienna 1993, and then they were able to get the POA (Programme of Action) of the conference on population and developm

In the absence of a basic questioning of women's status and role in society, birth control, abortions-and even maternal health care end up merely replacing an old set of traditions with new ones.

The planet is getting polarized in demographic and economic terms. Developing countries experience problems with their population growth along with pervasive poverty.

The importance of postpartum amenorrhoea for reducing fertility is especially pronounced in a developing country like Bangladesh where levels of contraceptive use have until recently remained relatively low. The duration of postpartum amenorrhoea in Bangladesh is among the longest in the world.