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.

There was a case from Germany in 1960 where a pregnant women named 'Sigi' took the drug - thalidomide - which was advertised as effective, safe, and nonaddictive hypnotic for treatment of her insomnia. She delivered a monster which had no limbs (phocomelia).

The magnitude of reproductive and sexual health problems in South Asia is daunting. However, an enabling policy environment provides an opportunity to address unmet needs. Neglected reproductive health problems can be effectively addressed through a life-cycle approach.

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.

The expectant and lactating mothers are considered as nutritionally vulnerable group especially in the developing countries of the world. Due to nursing process mothers are subjected to nutritional stresses.

An outline is given of progress made in understanding the causes of maternal mortality since the Safe Motherhood Initiative was launched a decade ago. It remains vital to analyze. why women are dying from pregnancy-related conditions and to identify the weak links in the chain of care.

Kipling was paying tribute to the Vicereine who established the Fund associated with her name. This was an organisation which employed medical women (or 'lady doctors') to run a chain of hospitals and dispensaries all over India and Burma.

In l995, nurses and doctors in many of the public maternity ward in the state of Tamil Nadu in India were routinely inserting IUDs immediately following childbirth and abortions, as part of the target-orientated family, planning policy.

The Population Foundation of India has recently published a monograph 'State of India's Population' in which, among other things one finds estimates of the human development index (HDI) the gender related health index (GRHI) and the reproductive health index (RHI).

The quinacrine trials raise a host of questions regarding the safety of this method of sterilization and the methodology used to assess this.