Breast-feeding is the proud privilege of every mother. It gives her an opportunity to fondle her little one with tender care and looks forward to his growth and development with high expectations.

Every young girl dreams of becoming a mother after marriage. She looks forward to this period with the utmost hope and joy to see that her child develops well in her womb, has no birth defects and grows up well, so that she can be a proud mother of that child.

Otempora! O mores! This cri decoeur will perhaps be evoked in those reading the spate of reports lately, on surreptitious "trials" on the non-surgical sterilization of women with quinacrine, being carried out by NG0s and private doctors in a host of places in the country.

The currently available methods of fertility regulation do not meet all the varied needs of women and men in differing geographical, cultural and religious settings and at different times of their reproductive lives.

As with Bhanwari Devi, gross injustice was committed in the Roop Kanwar sati case, when yet another session court in Rajasthan, acquitted all 32 of the accused in October last year.

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

Reproductive health is not just the absence of disease of the reproductive system. Rather, it covers a whole range of conditions and processes that include healthy sexual development, reproduction and fertility regulation.

Till recently child marriages flourished in the backward district of Rajgarh in western Madhya Pradesh.

Modern medical practice is by its very nature an interventionist one and in principle, all medical interventions need the informed consent of the patient to be ethically correct.

There is a widespread feeling that there has been a general erosion of ethical standards even in professions, which have been considered 'noble'. This has prompted a soul-searching exercise to understand the problems involved.