Genuineness of Statistics on Reversible Methods of Family Planning: A Field Investigation in Rural Karnataka

Abstract

The Indian family welfare program seeks to promote the two-child norm by offering couples the opportunity to choose voluntarily the family planning method best suited to their needs. Initiated in 1951, it has grown in size and structure, and now has a primary health center (PHC) for every 30,000-35,000 population, a sub-center for every 3,000-5,000 population in the rural areas of most states, and a network of family welfare centers, postpartum centers and hospitals in urban areas. Correspondingly, the estimated couple protection rate (CPR) has increased from 12 per cent in 1972 to 44 per cent in 1992: it was 30 per cent for sterilization, six per cent for the IUD, two per cent for the oral pill and five per cent for conventional contraceptives . A trend analysis of the
CPR estimates for India showed that the rate increased by 2.4 per cent points per year during 1981-91: 1.1 percentage points due to the acceptance of sterilization, 0.7 percentage points due to the use of the IUD, and 0.6 percentage points due to the use of other methods, mainly the condom and pill. In recent yeah thus, the contribution of reversible methods to the overall increase in the CPR has been more than 50 per cent.