The notion of quality in the public health system is becoming increasingly an issue for policymakers and planners in India. The Eighth Five-Year Plan identified the poor quality of family welfare services as one of the factors

Men of the Chakhesang tribe of Nagaland aid their wives during delivery of the newborn. Most men in the picture-postcard village of Chizami in Phek district believe it is shameful to depend on a neighbour's help when such a momentous event is taking place in their family.