In Kashmir, conversations about health usually begin and end with diabetes, heart disease, or blood pressure. But in recent years, another story is emerging, and it is infertility. It is, however, personal, painful, and for many, still too shameful to discuss.

The numbers tell us what people hesitate to say out loud. Kashmir’s fertility rate has dropped to 1.4, well below the 2.1 needed to keep a population stable. This makes it one of the lowest in the country. Behind the statistic are couples spending years trying to conceive, women undergoing treatment in silence, and men unwilling to admit that the problem may not lie only with their wives. For a society that once celebrated early marriages and large households, this is an unsettling shift.

Experts trace this to social change. For ex

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