Union Minister Anupriya Patel holds meeting with public health experts on family planning

In continuation of the World Population Day observance, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, held a meeting with public health experts on Friday and highlighted the importance of healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies.

The theme of the event was “Reaching the Last Mile for Ensuring Healthy Timing and Spacing between Pregnancies: Issues and Challenges,” according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare press release.

During the meeting, the Union Minister said, “Adequately spaced pregnancies can significantly enhance maternal and child health outcomes. This reduces health risks and empowers women and families to make informed choices about their reproductive health.”

She further added that “the government’s efforts have resulted in reduction of maternal mortality from over 130 to 97 per one-lakh births.”

She also emphasized that the government has always been conscious of these issues. “The launch of initiatives such as the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), Extended PMSMA, identification of High-Risk Pregnancy in PMSMA, Anemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, and the Post-Partum Family Planning Programme (Post-Partum IUCD and Post Abortion IUCD) are some examples of the Government’s commitment to the cause,” Patel added.

The Union Minister also highlighted the efforts taken by states on their own to bring about the involvement of men in family planning. She also underscored the importance of an effective communication strategy. “The task of achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047 cannot be done without empowering our women. Healthy timing and spacing between pregnancies are very important for women’s health,” she added.

Aradhana Patnaik, Additional Secretary and Mission Director (NHM), MoHFW highlighted that India has already achieved a Total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.0 with 31 States/UTs achieving replacement level. However, she pointed out the need for an effective strategy to bring the TFR under replacement level in the five remaining states.

Discussions ranged across a myriad of topics impacting family planning services, from equal participation of men and women in family planning and the use of data in family planning to global best practices and their applicability in India. Participants also shared learnings and proposed strategies, future horizons for newer contraceptives, and their experiences with family planning programmes, the press release added.

Public Health Experts who were present at the event included Dr Kalpana Apte, Head, Family Planning Association, India; Dr Saswati Das, Sexual and Reproductive Health Specialist, UNFPA India; Dr Chander Shekhar, Professor and Head of the Department of Fertility and Social Demography at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai; Ms Moni Sinha Sagar, Division Chief for the Family Health/RMNCHA Division, USAID India; Dr Somesh Kumar, Country Director, Jhpiego India; Professor Sudha Prasad, Director and Chief of Matritava Advanced IVF and Maternity Centre, Gurugram; and Dr S K Sikdar, Ex Advisor (Family Planning and Maternal Health), MoHFW, Government of India.

Professor Sudha Prasad, Director and Chief of Matritava Advanced IVF and Maternity Centre, Gurugram shed light on various causes of maternal mortality, nutritional deficiencies due to inadequate spacing between pregnancies, and the importance of spacing between children. She emphasized on the need to provide a full range of contraceptive options to women and couples to reduce the risk of unwanted pregnancies.

Dr. Kalpana Apte, Head, Family Planning Association, India spoke about traditional gender norms in India and emphasized the need for male participation in family planning as a priority. She also stressed on the need to increase couple communication and male grassroot level support for talking to men on family planning.

Moni Sinha Sagar, Division Chief for the Family Health/RMNCHA Division, USAID India underscored the importance of expanding the basket of choices and introducing newer contraceptives like hormonal Intrauterine Devices (IUDs) and vaginal rings. She highlighted that the NFHS-5 data shows accomplishments in a lot of areas, however, challenges remain on high occurrence of teenage pregnancies and use of traditional methods of contraception.

All the speakers unanimously voiced that equipping adolescents with accurate and judgment-free information about contraceptive options is essential for enabling informed decision-making and improving accessibility to family planning and reproductive health choices, the press release said.

The Union Minister appreciated the experts for their commitment to the cause and noted that by empowering youth, addressing the challenges of equal participation of men and women, increasing couple communication, learning from best practices, taking cues from current and historical trends in family planning data, and expanding the contraceptive basket of choices, we would be able to reach the last mile.

She also emphasized that identifying and mapping regions, districts, and blocks with low uptake of family planning services, low demand for modern contraceptives, high unmet needs, and similar state-appropriate criteria, and saturating them with family planning services, enhanced social and behaviour change communication, and involving frontline workers in these efforts can be a possible roadmap to achieve successful desired outcomes.