The Health and Social Needs of Married Girls in India : the First Time Parents Project ' S Implementation and Reach October 2006 Update

Despite the high prevalence of early marriage and the distinct and predictable risks these girls and young women face, little is known about the lives of married young women, and little has been done to support them. In response, the Population Council, in partnership with Child in Need Institute (West Bengal) and Deepak Charitable Trust (Gujarat), initiated the First-Time Parents project. This project aimed to develop and test an integrated package of health and social interventions that would improve married young women's reproductive and sexual health knowledge and practices, and expand their ability to act in their own interests. 12 villages with a population of about 25,000 each in Diamond Harbour block in West Bengal and Vadodara block in Gujarat. Interventions in both sites focused on young women who were newly married, pregnant, or postpartum for the first time. Given their role as gatekeepers and confidants, husbands of these young women, as well as senior family members and health care providers were also included in project activities. Interventions comprised three mutually reinforcing components: information provision, health-care service adjustments, and group formation. A primary focus of the intervention was to directly provide married young women with information through home visits by female outreach workers, counseling sessions by providers in clinic settings, discussions in young women's groups and community activities such as health celebrations of health days or health weeks (such as breastfeeding week). Information was conveyed to men through home visits to young husbands by