NEW DELHI:
The use of contraceptive methods is the lowest in Meghalaya for family planning, a report by the health ministry revealed, recently.
“Among the states, the use of contraceptive methods is the lowest in Meghalaya (27 per cent), followed by Mizoram (31 per cent), and Bihar (56 per cent),” the report released by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) said.
The report further added that East Khasi Hills (12 per cent), South West Khasi Hills (16 per cent), West Khasi Hills (15 per cent) are among the districts in the country with the lowest use of modern contraceptive methods.
Among the states, a relatively low proportion of currently married women use contraceptive methods in all the states in Northeast except for Sikkim and Tripura, the report said.
The report further revealed that, with 74 per cent, women in states such as West Bengal, Odisha, and Himachal Pradesh use the maximum contraceptives.
“Among the union territories, the use of contraceptive methods is the lowest in Ladakh (51 per cent) and the highest in Chandigarh (77 per cent),” the report 2019-21 said.
However, there is a large variation in the use of modern contraceptive methods across districts in India, ranging from 11 to 81 per cent.
Districts with the highest use of modern contraceptive methods are Nagpur (81 per cent); Balod, Indore, and Chikmagalur (80 per cent each) and Chamarajanagar (79 per cent).
The report has found that contraceptive use among currently married women rises with an increasing number of living children from 17 per cent of women with no living children to 52 per cent of women with one child and 80 per cent of women with three children.
Modern contraceptive use by currently married women has increased from 48 per cent to 56 per cent between 2015-16 and 2019-21.
“Female sterilisation is still the most popular contraceptive method, used by 38 per cent of currently married women,” the report said.
It further said that in the five years preceding the survey, 50 per cent of the women who started using a contraceptive method discontinued the method in less than 12 months. “The leading reason for discontinuation is a desire to become pregnant (11 per cent),” the report said.
Knowledge of contraceptive methods is almost universal in India, with more than 99 per cent of currently married women and men aged 15-49 knowing at least one method of contraception.
“More than half of currently married women (52 per cent) and men (52 per cent) know about emergency contraception. More than half of currently married women and more than one-quarter of currently married men know about the lactational amenorrhoea method (LAM),” the report said.
Female sterilisation remains the most popular modern contraceptive method.
“Among currently married women aged 15-49, 38 per cent use female sterilisation, followed by male condoms (10 per cent) and pills (5 per cent). Ten per cent use a traditional method, mostly the rhythm method. Among sexually active unmarried women, male condoms are the most commonly used method (27 per cent), followed by female sterilisation (21 per cent),” the report further highlighted.