New Delhi: The latest report of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) has found that the use of contraceptive methods among women for family planning is the lowest in Meghalaya, followed by Mizoram and Bihar. "Among the States, the use of the contraceptive method is lowest in Meghalaya (27 per cent), Mizoram (31 per cent) and Bihar (56 per cent)," the NFHS report said.
It further stated that the use of contraceptives is highest amongst women in West Bengal, Odisha and Himachal Pradesh (74 per cent each). "Among the States, a relatively low proportion of currently married women use contraceptive methods in all of the smaller states in the northeast region except for Sikkim and Tripura," the report said.
Among the Union Territories (UT), the use of contraceptive methods is the lowest in Ladakh (51 per cent) and the highest in Chandigarh (77 per cent), the report said. Notably, modern contraceptive use by currently married women has increased from 48 per cent to 56 per cent between 2015-16 and 2019-21. Female sterilization is still the most popular contraceptive method, used by 98 per cent of currently married women.
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While sixty-eight per cent of modern contraceptive method users obtain the method from the public health sector. 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).
Nine per cent of currently married women have an unmet need for family planning, down from 13 per cent from 2015 to 16. Three per cent of women have had a hysterectomy and more than two-thirds (70 per cent) of hysterectomies were performed in the private health sector. Knowledge of contraceptive methods is almost universal in India, with more than 99 per cent of currently married women and men in the age group of 15 to 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 amenorrhea method (LAM)," the NHFS report further said.
The NFHS report further stated that female sterilization remains the most popular modern contraceptive method. "Among currently married women in the age group of 15 to 49, 38 per cent use female sterilization, followed by male condoms (10 per cent) and pills (5 per cent). While 10 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 sterilization (21 per cent)," the NFHS report said.
