In recent decades, the most common means by which couples regulate fertility have changed from methods requiring control or cooperation by men, e.g., condoms, withdrawal and periodic abstinence, to those for which women bear primary responsibility e.g., virtually all-reversible modern methods.

In the last decade, several international and national movements have focused their attention, on the long neglected areas of women's reproductive health.

There is a growing recognition that gynaecological morbidity is an important health problem among poor women in India.