Ipas > Ipas India: Reaching women through mass media

Ipas India: Reaching women through mass media

April 20, 2006

In the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, radio is helping to spread the word about safe abortion services. Recent research found that almost half of women polled there thought abortion was illegal.

Photo courtesy of Peter Barker, Panos Pictures.

In vast, densely populated India, it’s radio — not television or Bollywood flicks — that can reach distant villages and penetrate its megacities.

With its long arms, radio can relay health messages to many of the billion-plus Indians who make up the world’s second most populous country.

On March 27 and 30, Ipas India collaborated with Madhya Pradesh state’s Health and Family Welfare Department to address abortion issues on the weekly Hindi-language show, “Swashthya Darpan” (“Health Mirror”). The show is broadcast on the Madhya Pradesh stations of the country’s primary, government-owned radio network, All India Radio (AIR). This program is sponsored by the Health and Family Welfare department’s Information, Education and Communication bureau. Ipas partnered with them for two episodes about safe abortion: a 30-minute show on March 27 and then, three days later, a live hourlong show where listeners could call in questions.

The safe abortion shows were broadcast on all 14 AIR stations in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. But judging from the call-in segment, people from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh states were also tuning in.

Ipas India Director V.S. Chandrashekar said this collaboration is the most sweeping media effort his office has ever conducted. With its long track record and large following, AIR says “Swashthya Darpan” routinely is heard by nearly 50 million people.

For the half-hour program, obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Sangeeta Batra — an Ipas training and service delivery advisor — explained when women can seek abortions and the importance of using a trained provider, not the local village practitioner.

Chandrashekar said: “Many women and men think abortions are not legal, or they do not have correct information and therefore seek care from clandestine or unqualified providers. By doing so, they expose themselves to the risk of death and injury. Empowering men and women with correct information on abortion issues, including its legality, will go a long way in increasing women’s access to safe abortion care.”

Information is essential for residents of Madhya Pradesh. In this state of 60 million, government statistics reported only 31,300 abortion procedures in 2000-2001. That low number and a high maternal mortality rate (498 per 100,000 live births, higher than the national average) indicate that women are turning to unsafe abortion providers. One factor that may influence women to seek unsafe abortion is that only 2 percent of primary health centers — the place where many Indians in rural Madhya Pradesh could potentially get safe and legal abortion services — are offering them.

Furthermore, a 2003 study from the International Center for Research on Women found that 49 percent of 2,400 women polled in Madhya Pradesh thought that abortion was illegal. Only 9 percent knew that abortion is legal in India (up to 20 weeks of pregnancy).

Men need the right reproductive-health information as well. Of the 25 callers on the March 30 show, where Batra fielded the questions, 20 were males who wanted advice for their wives. One man needed to know about postabortion care; he worried because his wife had terminated a pregnancy and was still in pain. The abortion was performed by an unqualified health professional, a revelation that provided a “teachable moment” about who can legally offer abortions.

Based in New Delhi, Ipas India currently works in Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra states. It also has plans to expand into Madhya Pradesh to improve quality of abortion care, increase women’s access, and ensure that its residents have accurate information about abortion-related topics.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258