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.

India is a signatory to the Alma Ata declaration and has committed herself to achieving "Health for All by the Year 2000". Since then, a lot of planning, effort and public expenditure has been devoted to improving the health of the people both in rural and urban areas of the country.

In recent years, there has been increased recognition of the scope and significance of gynaecological problems experienced by poor women in developing countries.

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.

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).

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.

India's efforts to promote family planning have produced a significant increase in the couple protection rate (CPR) which has increased by about 33 percent during the last 22 years-from 10.4 percent in 1970 to 43.5 in 1992.