Birth control in India is a rare concept. Most people are unaware of it and the ones that do know a little, seldom care to learn more.
In India, the term birth control somehow translates to “pills”. Pills that are taken by women. Pills that are hormonal in nature and often interfere with a woman’s general well being.
According to the president of the Federation of Gynaecological Societies of India – Dr.S Shantha Kumari, myths like vasectomies for males being associated with reduced virility keeps many Indian men from participating in programmes of family planning pushing the responsibility entirely on the shoulder of women.
She further adds that whether it be by the Government or the NGOs, their family planning campaigns are solely targeted towards women whereas it should ideally be the domain of both the sexes instead of placing the onus on women only.
This claim comes in the aftermath of the results of the latest National Family Health Survey. It is a comprehensive government-run survey that aims to look at several health and social indicators.
Read more: With The Arrival Of Men’s Birth Control Pills Around The Corner, Will It Be Easily Accepted By Indian Society?
It was found that above 99% of married couples between the ages of 15-49 knew about at least one method of modern contraception. Furthermore, it was observed that their usage has also increased significantly over the last few years.
Although these numbers seem promising at face value, upon a deeper dive it seems that only about 9.5% of men use condoms while female sterilisation has now risen from 36% to 37.9% – clearly the most popular contraceptive method. Male sterilisation, however, has managed to maintain a measly 0.3%.
The survey further displays that a significant fraction of men in some of the most populous states do not consider this matter to be a male’s problem. Experts believe that the only way to change this is to fix this uninformed attitude.
The issue is exacerbated by the unavailability of long-term reversible male contraception. While research on this is carried out globally, family planning programmes must find better ways to engage men in the conversation.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: BBC News, Scroll, Live Mint
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This post is tagged under: women, birth control, pills, surgical, copper T, population control, india
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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