Gender Equity-Focused, Male-Centered Family Planning for Rural India

The major barrier to India meeting its national goal of replacement fertility is the huge discrepancy between urban and rural family planning, with rural young women at highest risk for unplanned and unspaced pregnancies. These concerns are considered to drive the persistent and unacceptably high rates of maternal and infant mortality in India. Major impediments to these young wives' acquisition of family planning services include high male partner control over reproductive decision-making, low mobility, and very low access to family planning services in villages. Such findings document the need for male-centered family planning efforts available at the village level, to better meet the needs of rural young wives. These male-centered efforts must address male gender role and gender inequity ideologies and norms (e.g., son preference, wife abuse) and marital communication, as these factors are associated with lower likelihood of contraceptive use in rural young Indian couples. Hence, the proposed study involves development and testing of the CHARM Program, a gender equity (GE)-focused, male-centered family planning (FP) program delivered by village health providers (VHPs), via a public-private partnership with primary health centers (PHCs) and private providers serving rural India. In Phase 1 the investigators will conduct formative research including health care resource mapping of Vasai within the Thane district of Maharashtra to identify villages and VHPs for inclusion in subsequent research and intervention. The investigators will also conduct in-depth interviews with rural young husbands (n=30), rural young wives (n=20), and health care providers (n=12), as well as focus groups with mothers' of rural young husbands (n=40). These data will be used to develop the CHARM program and efficacy trial. Phase 2 will involve development and pilot testing of CHARM protocols and training of VHPs for their role in the intervention trial (Phase 3). The CHARM intervention will