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Despite a 13% increase in awareness about contraceptive methods, a growing number of married women prefer traditional birth control measures and operative procedures like sterilisation over condoms
Men may be the main decision-makers in the Indian family, but it is women who shoulder the responsibility for family planning with more than half of married women using some form of contraception, as opposed to a mere 6% of men, says a new government survey.
However, they are increasingly relying on traditional birth control measures despite the growing availability of modern and reliable contraceptive methods, including condoms.
Over the past decade, Indian women have indicated a growing preference for, and trust in, traditional methods of preventing conception like the withdrawal method and abstinence from sex during ovulation, according to a Ministry of Health and Family Welfare report on population stabilisation.
Data for the survey was collected from 593 districts across the country in the year 2004.
Use of traditional methods, like keeping a calendar record of the assumed number of days of ovulation, increased from 4.3% to 7.3% of women who adopted any kind of family planning measure.
This made the system the preferred method over condoms, which are a much more foolproof birth control device, in addition to providing protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Only 4.8% of married women preferred condoms.
According to the survey, the percentage of married women using the withdrawal method in 2004 was 2.9%, up from 1.3% in 1993.
Similarly the percentage of women practising periodic abstinence, in which intercourse is avoided during the end of the menstrual cycle, as a means of birth control increased to 4.2% from 2.6% in 1993.
The report also highlights another trend -- more women are getting sterilised. Female sterilisation rose to 34.3% in 2004 compared to 27.3% in 1993.
Meanwhile, male sterilisation, a much safer procedure, went down to a meagre 0.9% from 3.4% in 1992-93. The report notes that the probable reason for the fall in vasectomy cases was the fallout of the "excesses committed for male sterilisation in the 1970s".
Under an aggressive national family planning programme adopted by the government of the time, hundreds of thousands of men were bribed and coerced by health workers to undergo vasectomies. The negative impact of the infamous forced sterilisations continues to this day.
The report states that since "males are the main decision-makers in Indian families" the no-scalpel vasectomy procedure should be promoted to encourage more men to take responsibility for birth control measures.
Ironically, while Indian men are known to take all major family decisions, including size of the family, it is wives who have taken action -- 53% of the women surveyed used birth control, compared to only 6% of men.
The past decade has also witnessed significant progress in terms of awareness about contraceptives among women, with a 13% increase, the report says.
The report was prepared by a group headed by Naresh Dayal, Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry. It was submitted to the Planning Commission of India in August.
Source: Hindustan Times , September 3, 2007
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