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.
Pulitzer Center grantee Sarah Weiser reports on India’s family planning and the population dilemma.