#retroreport

A patient talks with an auxiliary nurse midwife at Janani's Surya Clinic in Patna, Bihar.

The network of clinics throughout the region work in association with the government, and supplement its services, to provide family planning, as well as counseling services. Over 100,000 patients visit the network of clinics each year. Half of the world's unmet family planning needs are in India, says Director Don Douglas, and the bulk of that need is in a handful of northern states, Bihar and UP in particular.

"We see women coming in all the time, age 23, 24, with 3 and 4 children already, and saying enough—I've had enough babies."

Douglas points to poverty, and lack of education, specifically for girls, as being part of the problem of Bihar's high fertility. Girls are being pulled out of school early and married at a young age—half of all women there are married before the age of 17.

“If you want to move the needle on population control, this is the epicenter.”

Image and text by Sarah Weiser, via Instagram. India, 2014.

In response to the recent measles outbreak in California and other parts of the western United States, the NYTimes released a video that chronicles the recent history of the anti-vaccination movement.  We have talked a lot in class about the issue of vaccinations in the present times.  I think it is interesting to also consider how history has shaped our attitudes towards public interventions. Although this video does not go back quite so far, I learned in class last year that the anti-vaccination movement dates back to the 1800s.  The present-day movement carries many of the same themes of the original movement.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000003485198/vaccines-an-unhealthy-skepticism.html