Will An Injection Revolutionize Birth Control?

The health authorities' decision to promote injectable contraceptive drugs puts an exciting option in the basket of choices available to women, reports Angel Abraham.

- Angel Abraham

It could have been a day when a smiling health minister unveiled a great contraceptive innovation for women: three-monthly injections that obviate the need for daily pills or invasive sterilisations. But World Contraception Day, that falls every year On 26 September, went by without so much as a blush on the nation’s cheek. All eyes were instead riveted on prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tour of the Silicon Valley.

As digital dreams kept everyone starry-eyed, the public back home could have been fed some facts that would make them reach for the nearest contraceptive device. Lest we forget: India is the second most populous country of the world with around 1.271 billion people, and that doesn’t include the diaspora. Estimates have it that by 2025, the number of Indians would surpass the number of Chinese nationals — that’s if we keep growing at 17.1 percent every year.

One of the riddles the Indian nation still needs to solve — and has been trying to since the 1970s — is how to maintain the rate of population growth at a stable level. In spite of the contraceptive methods available, the basket of choices for Indian women is still limited as compared to the other countries. It is not only the lack of medical facilities in the rural areas, it’s also myths, misconceptions and cultural practices that prove a barrier to population control. Even now, women in rural areas have to travel several Kilometres to see a medical practitioner.

The national family planning programme was off to a desultory start soon after independence, in the year 1952. From then to the present, we have managed to popularise five contraceptive methods. They are: