Eleven articles explore the interrelated issues of women's autonomy, girls' schooling, and fertility reduction in South Asia. The contributors use census and survey data from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to challenge the notion that there is a universal and causal relationship between rising levels of schooling and declining levels of fertility, and that schooling enhances female autonomy. The volume concludes that resources should be devoted to the spread of education, but not at the expense of contraceptive and maternal/child health services. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Study conducted chiefly in Uttar Pradesh.

The delivery of high quality and equitable care for both mothers and newborns is complex and requires efforts across many sectors. The United States spends more on childbirth than any other country in the world, yet outcomes are worse than other high-resource countries, and even worse for Black and Native American women. There are a variety of factors that influence childbirth, including social determinants such as income, educational levels, access to care, financing, transportation, structural racism and geographic variability in birth settings. It is important to reevaluate the United States' approach to maternal and newborn care through the lens of these factors across multiple disciplines. Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice reviews and evaluates maternal and newborn care in the United States, the epidemiology of social and clinical risks in pregnancy and childbirth, birth settings research, and access to and choice of birth settings.

Within the continuum of reproductive health care, antenatal care provides a platform for important health-care functions, including health promotion, screening and diagnosis, and disease prevention. It has been established that, by implementing timely and appropriate evidence-based practices, antenatal care can save lives. Endorsed by the United Nations Secretary-General, this is a comprehensive WHO guideline on routine antenatal care for pregnant women and adolescent girls. It aims to complement existing WHO guidelines on the management of specific pregnancy-related complications. The guidance captures the complex nature of the antenatal care issues surrounding healthcare practices and delivery, and prioritizes person-centered health and well-being --- not only the prevention of death and morbidity --- in accordance with a human rights-based approach.

Prenatal care programs have proven effective in improving birth outcomes and preventing low birthweight. Yet over one-fourth of all pregnant women in the United States do not begin prenatal care in the first 3 months of pregnancy, and for some groupsâ€"such as black teenagersâ€"participation in prenatal care is declining. To find out why, the authors studied 30 prenatal care programs and analyzed surveys of mothers who did not seek prenatal care. This new book reports their findings and offers specific recommendations for improving the nation's maternity system and increasing the use of prenatal care programs.

This paper examines the role played by the various socio-economic and community level factors to determine the maternal health care utilisation using the data from National Family Health Survey (NFHS) carried out in 1998-99 in India. Our analysis document that autonomy enjoyed by women and exposure to media has a significant impact on maternal heath care utilization even after controlling for other attributes particularly her education and household economic status. Women with delivery complications are found to be aware of the risks involved and keener to seek institutional care. Availability of a government facility has no bearing on the respondent's utilization choice but presence of a private facility in the village propagates the utilization of a private health facility in contrast to delivering at home. The results show that even after controlling for availability of both public as well as private health facility, development of the village infrastructure and other informative community level programmes are required to mitigate the cultural and economic barriers that deter the use of maternal services. Furthermore, the obtained results provide insights for formulating health policies. Policies should be oriented to meet the specific needs of individuals particularly those belonging to the vulnerable social groups. Fortunately, women with delivery complications were found to be aware of the risks involved and more keen to seek institutional care (public or private). This highlights the importance of devising health services and programmes aimed at early detections of obstetric problems.

The authors examine the numerous structural and policy changes Indian authorities have adopted since the 1991 balance of payments crisis; how these changes helped India weather the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98; the risks to fiscal sustainability and their implications for growth; the challenges facing monetary policy in the face of financial market liberalization; and the benefits of structural reform and fiscal policy for growth, poverty, and the reduction of regional disparities.