Public Sector

Every minute one woman dies somewhere in the world due to childbirth related causes. In U.P., where the maternal mortality ratio is a high 707 a large number of women die every year and many more suffer from morbidity. Children very closely spaced together & use of unsafe abortions as a birth control measure contribute significantly to these. Further, in the existing male-dominated social set-up in the state, it is ironic that the woman, has to bear almost the entire burden of contraception.

Statistics reveal a glaring disparity between male and female sterilization acceptors. The number of men accepting sterilization is less than 1 percent of the total. Therefore with the aim of increasing male participation in family planning, No-scalpel Vasectomy (NSV) – a quick, simple and effective method for men-is being promoted by SIFPSA in Uttar Pradesh.

NSV has an advantage over traditional vasectomy in that it eliminates the fear of surgery. As the incision is small, no stitches are required, the procedure takes less than 10 minutes and requires no hospitalization.

NSV was first introduced by SIFPSA in November, 1995 with the training of government doctors at Lucknow. Since then, three training centres, one each at Dehradun, Almora & Nainital have been set up to train service providers in NSV.

The training is for three days where doctors undergo rigorous hands-on practice on clients under the guidance of experts. The experts follow up the trainees after two months to assess their skills and certify them as service providers.

All trained doctors are eligible for consideration as trainers after they have completed 100 NSV procedures. Candidates thus selected undergo a 6-day Training of Trainers (TOT) programme. Experts later follow up to assess their skills. On satisfactory performance they are declared as trainers, thereby adding to the resource available for training.

The next stage is to popularize the NSV technique and to increase male participation in family planning. Once trained service providers are available, a Service Delivery Centre is sanctioned in the district. These service delivery centres are provided resources for IEC activities, minor instruments/equipment and contingency. IEC activities include printing and distribution of handbills and brochures, publishing advertisements in local dailies to inform about camp dates and setting up hoardings at prominent places to promote NSV services provided at the centre.

Efforts are on to further disseminate the NSV technique to a larger number of doctors and the training is being promoted in various districts as a priority activity.

Since the inception of the programme, 67 doctors have been trained as service providers and 34 service delivery projects have been sanctioned.

As a result of the efforts made for promotion of NSV, more than 2000 clients have accepted vasectomy using this technique in a short peirod.