In Pictures: How India’s birth control battle falters in rural district
It has been a losing battle in places like Kishanganj, which has the highest fertility rate of any district in India, soon to be the world’s most populous nation.
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Zamerun Nisha, 33, holding her newborn baby as her sister Sanerum, 38, and her sister-in-law Zabinad, 15, keep her company at the maternity ward of a community health centre in Bahadurganj subdivision of Kishanganj district, in the state of Bihar on March 21, 2023. "My body cannot take this pressure of having babies anymore," she told Reuters. "I have been lucky to survive each time."
REUTERS
Chandani Devi, 36, resting as her mother, Ranjana Devi, holds her newborn daughter at a hospital in the Kishanganj district on March 20. "For the fourth time I have had a girl, now I will wait for a few years before I try to have a boy," said Chandani Devi, 36, as she tried to fight back tears in a hospital ward after her delivery.
REUTERS
Block Community Mobilizer (BCM) Pratima Kumari, 38 talking about family planning and the different contraceptive methods available in Duadangi village on March 21. "The minute I tell couples to use condoms or suggest permanent birth control, they ignore it or just change the topic," Kumari told Reuters.
REUTERS
Sabina Begum, 22, sitting before giving birth to her child, at the labour ward of a community health centre in Bahadurganj subdivision on March 21. "I talk to women while they are experiencing labour pain and nudge them to undergo sterilisation immediately after delivery," said Parvati Rajak, a medical officer. "But the final choice is always made by the family".
REUTERS
Zamerun Nisha, 33, lying down after giving birth while a doctor holds and cleans her newborn baby, at the labour ward of a community health centre in Bahadurganj subdivision March 21.
REUTERS
A nurse holding the feet of a newborn baby after it was delivered at the labour ward of a community health centre in Bahadurganj subdivision on March 21.
REUTERS
Women waiting outside the operation theatre of a community health centre on March 21. "The state government's focus is to ensure that policy interventions percolate to the ground, its mechanisms such as free sterilisation, temporary birth control instruments are used actively," said Sanjay Kumar Pansari, director in the Bihar government's Directorate of Economics and Statistics.
REUTERS
Zamerun Nisha, 33, giving birth to her fifth child at the labour ward of a community health centre on March 21. Just minutes after, Zamerun, who is married to mason Md. Wasim, 40, said she would try to secure permission from her husband to undergo sterilisation before leaving for home, who later agreed to the procedure.
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A nurse taking care of a newborn baby after the birth at a hospital in Kishanganj district March 20.
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Md. Wasim, 40, and his family placing his wife Zamerun Nisha, 33, on a hospital bed after undergoing sterilisation surgery at a community health centre on March 21.
REUTERS
Zamerun Nisha, 33, lying down as a doctor checks the heartbeat of her child with an ultrasound machine, at the labour ward of a community health centre on March 21.
REUTERS
Patients waiting outside a primary health care centre in Belwa village, Kishanganj district on March 20.
REUTERS
