Unmet Need For Contraception: An Overview From A District In West Bengal

Abstract

Objectives: To address the social correlates of unmet need for contraception among currently married women of reproductive age group. Methods: This community based cross sectional study was conducted in urban and rural areas of Howrah district of West Bengal during April to Sept 09. Multistage stratified random sampling was followed. Results: Out of total 2000 respondents, 1400 (70%) belonged to nuclear family; more than half (57.2%) were below 30 years of age. About 1/3rd (33.3%) of the respondents had no institutional education. The overall unmet need for contraception in this study was 8.7%. Unmet need was higher among the rural, Muslim, illiterate and lower age group. The main reasons for unmet need were lack of information (39%), fear of adverse effect (21.3%), and opposition from husband (11.5%), hindrance from elder family members (10.4%), inconvenient time (8%), and religious barrier (3.5%). Conclusion: To minimize the unmet need BCC programme to be strengthened