Only 51 pc couples use contraception, reveals survey

The continuing unpopularity of contraceptive methods is worrying because 33 per cent of India’s population is below 15 years and is at the threshhold of reproductive age. The survey indicates that only if the total fertility rate (TFR) the average of children a woman bears drops to below 2 by 2010 and remains constant thereafter, will the population stabilise by 2050. But not before it has touched 1.5 billion.

Among the 48.2 per cent couples who used protection in the reproductive age, female sterilisation was the most popular method, with 34.2 per cent women opting for it. Condoms followed second, at a much lower 3.1 per cent, the contraceptive pill was used by 2.1 per cent women, intra-uterine devices (IUDs) are used by 1.6 per cent, while male sterilisation was the last contraception option at 1.9 per cent. But before sterilisation is hailed as the new millennium’s contraceptive of choice, it should be known that this method does little to curb population because most women who get sterilised are those who have already mothered three or more children. “Couples in their reproductive age should be encouraged to use reversible spacing methods like the pill, IUDs and condoms, since they are wary of adopting permanent methods like sterilisation,” says Sumita Mehta, a consultant with the USAID-funded Commercial Market Strategies involved in reproductive health projects in the BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh).