Family Planning
India was the first country in the world to launch Family Planning Program in 1952. The primary focus was on population control. Conducting minilap surgery and conventional vasectomy were the main methods of contraception. The goal was to reach “zero population growth” by the beginning of twenty first century. It was around 1978, there was a drastic change in the concept of family planning. There was paradigm shift from “population control” to the concept of “family welfare”. Thus, many rural family welfare centers were established. Government of India has taken several initiatives and introduced different programs for population control as well as for reduction of maternal and childhood mortality. In response to ICPD (International Convention on Population Development) conference held at Cairo in 1994, Government of India launched RCH (Reproductive and Child Health) programme in India. The principles promoted in ICPD conference was that the best results are achieved not by establishing contraception targets but rather by improving the education and health of children and women and offering multiple methods of birth control.
From Population Control to Improved Reproductive Health
Reproductive health addresses the reproductive processes, functions and systems of men and women, adolescent boys and girls. Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a responsible, satisfying and safe sex life and they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide, when and how often to do so. This definition focuses on the right of men and women to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of fertility regulations of their choice and the right to access to appropriate health care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and child birth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy newborn. The reproductive health programme is committed to promote informed choice and voluntary decision moving in matters relating to accepting reproductive health service by the eligible clients without any coercion.