Badami, 28, had delivered a boy on 8th October 2024. I met her at home during a field visit to Vardara village in southern Rajasthan. When I asked about the newborn, she whispered “Baccho off veyi gayo”, (the baby passed away).
Her husband sitting nearby told me that at the time of delivery, fluid had accumulated in the newborn’s lungs which led to its asphyxiating and dying shortly after. Badami said “After getting home, I felt like I couldn’t live anymore. I couldn’t do anything. My husband cooked, looked after our three year-old daughter, took care of his parents and cared for me as well”. Her husband, shared that since then she has been feeling extremely weak with continuing abdominal and back pain. He added, “When Badami was unwell, it became my responsibility to manage the household. There’s always work at home. However, I thought if she gets some rest, she’ll recover sooner”.
An ARTH field worker had earlier met Badami as a part of the Navneet intervention which focuses on maternal and infant care through the year after delivery. She advised Badami to rest adequately, avoid strenuous work, to include nutritious food in her diet and to visit ARTH’s Health Center for a postpartum checkup, which she later did, along with her husband. At the health center, the nurse-midwife found that her haemoglobin level had dropped to 9 g/dL. She advised her to include iron-rich foods, locally available green leafy vegetables, pulses, jaggery, etc. in her diet along with iron supplementation. During our discussion she told me that she has been taking IFA tablets consistently and had discussed with her husband about delaying pregnancy until she recovered her strength. I was struck by the extent to which Badami had regained confidence after what was clearly, a traumatizing delivery experience.
Emerging evidence emphasises the importance of male involvement in maternal health, especially during the postpartum period. Maria Rosa et al. (2021) emphasize that emotional support from husbands during the early postpartum phase enables mothers to feel less isolated, more capable, and better equipped to cope with the demands of new motherhood (https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2021.5761). Similarly, a systematic review by Yargawa (2015) of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) highlights that male involvement in both pregnancy and postpartum care is associated with reduced odds of postpartum depression (http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech2014-204784). The author concludes that maternal health must not be viewed solely as the woman’s issue – men must be seen as part of the solution, and not as passive bystanders or barriers.
However, a qualitative study conducted in Madhya Pradesh, India (2020), found that lack of male-inclusive infrastructure and gendered expectations at health facilities acted as powerful deterrents to male participation (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-020-03029-8). According to a more recent review (2023), “men who accompany pregnant women to health facilities are shunned, stigmatised and or labelled as ‘weak’, ‘controlling’, ‘bewitched’ and ‘women`s rivals’ which acts as a hindrance to male involvement in maternal health” (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2021.103089).
Badami’s example suggests that a husband’s support makes a major difference not only to physical recovery, but also reinforces a woman’s emotional resilience. Meaningful male involvement in postpartum care will require a fundamental shift in how we view gender roles in the context of pregnancy, delivery and the extended postpartum period. Meanwhile, I wished Badami strength and courage as she recuperated physically and mentally, and along with her husband, looked forward to a brighter future.
– Himani Sharma