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Family planning practices in India--Second All India Survey.
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1983
Year
Family MedicineFertilityTeenage PregnancyContraceptive Non-useReproductive HealthReproductive Health CounselingFamily PlanningFamily FormationAverage Family SizeFamily HealthContraceptionPublic HealthSexual And Reproductive HealthPregnancy PreventionHealth PolicyMaternal HealthPopulation StudyFertility PolicySexual BehaviorFamily PolicyMarriageSexual HealthFamily Size PreferencesHuman Population PlanningGlobal HealthRural HealthContraceptive UptakeDemographyMedicineNational StudySurvey Methodology
A national study of average family size and family size preferences and of contraceptive knowledge attitude and practice was commissioned by the Nirodh Marketing Division of Indias Ministry of Health and conducted by the Operations Research Group in 1980-81. The results were compared to a similar study conducted in 1970. An additional objective of the study was to assess the degree to which respondents had a knowledge of and used the Nirodh condom which is distributed through commerical channels under a special government program. Interviews were obtained from a stratified sample of 34831 currently married females aged 15-49 or their husbands. 50.3% of those interviewed were females 83.9% were Hindus and 53% were illiterate. When the results of the 1970 and 1980 surveys were compared the mean number of live births declined from 3.53-3.27 and the mean number of live births surviving at the time of the survey increased from 2.69-2.75. For 1980 the mean number of live births was 3.22 in urban areas and 3.28 in rural areas. On the average couples wanted to have a total of 3 children and the mean number of additional children wanted by couples with 012 or 3 children was respectively 3.0 1.7 0.8 and 0.3. The desire for additional children declined when the respondents had a male child and the major reason given for wanting more children was the desire to have sons. 68.1% of the couples never discussed family size preferences and 65.2% never discussed family planning with each other. Only 38.2% of the respondents were aware of the availability of government maternal and child health services and only 18.4% of the respondents utilized these services. Home visit coverage by family planning extension was quite low especially in the northern areas (6%). Awareness of family planning methods was about 95% for sterilization 54% for condoms 43% for IUDs and 36% for oral contraceptives (OC). Awareness for all methods except the IUD increased considerably between 1970-80. The proportion of couples who knew how to correctly use a specific method was 54% for vasectomy 57% for tubectomy 23% for IUD 21% for OC and 42% for the condom. 80.8% of the respondents had positive attitudes toward family planning 18.1% had negative attitudes toward family planning and 1.1% were neutral. 35.3% of the respondents currently practiced contraception 4.4% used a method in the past and 60.3% never used a method. Corresponding proportions for 1970 were 14% 5% and 81%. Among current users 63.5% relied on sterilization 11.8% on condoms 2.7% on OC 20.4% on traditional methods and 1.6% on other methods. The unmet need for family planning declined from 78% to 37% between 1970-80. 79% of the urban condom users and 93% of the rural condom users used Niroddh condoms only and rural resident were more likely than urban residents to rely on government sources for obtaining condoms. Exposure to mass media knowledge of the side effects of contraceptive methods and the role of husbands and wives in the family size decision-making process were other variables explored in the study. Income educational religious geographical and residential differences for all the variables in the study were also examined. The results of the study are presented in 129 tables and the appendices provide copies of the household and family planning questionnaires and information on sampling and validation procedures.