Guidelines on the consent process have changed and spousal consent is no longer required.
Yet most of the health
providers, including doctors and counselors, considered partner consent necessary for sterilization.
A majority were also
unaware of the eligibility criteria related to age and parity.
For voluntary sterilization, a woman should be between 22 and
49 years-old and have at least one child over one year old (GoI, 2006). When asked about these criteria, two-third or more
providers mentioned minimum parity to be two.
This knowledge gap was present in both the private and public facilities and is critical, as it can stop eligible and interested clients from being able to access sterilization services.