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Reproductive Health Matters
An international journal on sexual and reproductive health and rights
Volume 7, 1999 - Issue 13: Living without children
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Original Articles

Childlessness in Andhra Pradesh, India: Treatment-seeking and consequences

Pages 54-64 | Published online: 01 May 1999

References

  • F.E. Okonofua, A. Harris Odebiyi. The social meaning of fertility in South Nigeria. Health Transition Review. 7: 1997; 205–220.
  • D.N. Kakar. Traditional healers in North India: a case study. Nursing Journal of India. 74(3): 1983; 61–63.
  • Among Hindus poja means prayer and pojari is a priest.
  • Munat is a certain promise made at Dargh (the grave of a holy man) or to a deity by someone wanting a particular wish to be fulfilled. This promise must then be carried out upon the attainment of what is desired.
  • J.S. Jejeebhoy Infertility in South Asia: Priorities for social science research Paper presented at Reproductive Health Workshop. New Delhi, 26 September–7 October 1994, WHO and Ford Foundation. Organised by.
  • 4th ed., Infertility: A Technical Report. 1975; World Health Organization, Series 582: Geneva.
  • K.B. Pathak, S. Unisa. A study of childlessness and infertility from children everborn data. 4th ed., Project report. 1993; International Institute for Population Sciences: Mumbai.
  • National Family Health Survey 1992–1993, India. 1995; International Institute for Population Sciences: Mumbai.
  • Childlessness in this paper means the inability to deliver a live born child. Only currently married childless women were included in the present study, as we did not find any childless women who were divorced or abandoned because of childlessness. The cut-off points for the selection of women as regards age and marital duration were age 20 to 49 and three years or more marital duration. These were selected to avoid the consequences of physical immaturity of the one side and menopause on the other, as well as the time required for women and their husbands to decide to seek and start treatment after they realise there are fertility problems.
  • J.E. Veevers. Childlessness and age at first marriage. Social Biology. 19: 1971; 266–274.
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  • M.C. Inhorn, K.A. Buss. Ethnography, epidemiology and infertility in Egypt. Social Science and Medicine. 39(5): 1994; 671–686.
  • Primary infertility means here that couples did not conceive at any time despite cohabitation and exposure to pregnancy, and in the absence of contraceptive use, for a period of three years.
  • U. Larsen. Differentials in infertility in Cameroon and Nigeria. Population Studies. 49: 1995; 329–346.
  • In India, traditional indigenous systems of medicine remain popular in spite of high growth of the modern allopathic health system. These indigenous forms of treatment include Ayurvedic, homeopathy and Unani. In the Ayurvedic or Ayurveda system, treatment is based on drugs, diet and exercise, and on the general mode of living. In homeopathic treatment, the primary emphasis is on increasing the strength of the body’s defense mechanisms through a holistic and individualised approach. In the Unani system of medicine, treatment is mainly carried out with drugs made from herbs and from animal and mineral sources, which are supposed to have specific characteristics (hot, cold, moist, dry, etc) to different degrees. These systems of medicine are formally taught at university level parallel to a bachelor’s degree in allopathic medicine. Many untrained persons are also practising these systems of medicine.
  • Mysamma Devi is a local deity.
  • Mahakali is a Hindu Goddess.
  • The meaning of one course of treatment is that one main provider is visited for treatment with one or more visits over a period of time, while two courses of treatment means attending two different providers, etc. The reasons for a change ofproviders or sources of help may be completion of the current course of treatment or discontinuation of that course of treatment for whatever reason.
  • E. Bruckert. How frequent is unintentional childlessness in Germany?. Andrologia. 23(3): 1991; 245–250.
  • J. Sundby, R. Boge, S. Sonko. Infertility in Gambia: frequency and health care seeking. Social Science and Medicine. 46(7): 1998; 891–899.
  • In Table 4 only the costs for the first course of treatment are given, but data on costs is available for all the treatments received.
  • C. Gibson. Childless women and marital instability: re-examination ofthe evidence. Journal of Bio-Social Sciences. 12: 1980; 121–131.
  • The effects of infertility on marital stability as shown in Table 6 are based on this question: Sometimes when a couple is childless the husband talks about divorce or taking a second wife. Has anything like this ever happened to you? Respondents were asked to read the following statements and mark yes or no for each: a. Husband already has one more wife (yes/no). b. Husband has a relationship with another woman (yes/no). c. Husband wants a divorce (yes/no). d. Husband talks about taking a second wife (yes/no). When a woman answered ‘no’ to all of these, we took it as an indication of a harmonious marital relationship.
  • A. Singh, L.K. Dhaliwal, A. Kaur. Infertility in a primary health center of Northern India: a follow up study. Journal of Family Welfare. 42: 1996; 51–56. (March).
  • Godralu is from the local Telgu language; the literal translation is ‘one who does not have eggs’. In the context of infertility, this word has the negative connotation of ‘being useless’ because one is not able to bear children.

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