CONTRACEPTIVE PRACTICES OF WOMEN LIVING IN RURAL-AREAS OF BIHAR

A prospective survey of 972 married (sexually active) women living in rural areas of Lalganj block of Vaishali district in Bihar state of In dia was carried out. The study was aimed at obtaining first hand infor mation from the rural women regarding their contraceptive practices an d to use the information thus gained to identify those spheres of conc ern where greater attention needs to be paid to make the family planni ng system more efficient. The population investigated consisted of wom en attending the combined obstetric and gynaecology clinic located at Lalganj. Tubal sterilisation was the commonest mettled of contraceptio n among women surveyed ( 20.6 per cent of women). The incidence of ste rilisation increased significantly as the age increaserl-11.6 per cent of women aged 21 to 30 had tubal sterilisation, whereas the incidence was 51 per cent in women aged 31 to 40 years. Reversible forms of con traception (IUD, or al pills and condoms) were used by only 6.8 per ce nt of women included in the study Married girls aged 15 to 20 were nor rising any contraceptive. It was also rioted that none of the women s urveyed had used any contraceptive prior to her first pregnancy Forty per cent of women in the age group 21 to 30 years and a similar percen tage (41.1 per cent) in the age group 31 to 40 years had ns a or more live children bur did not rise any contraceptive. The results reveal t hat tubal sterilisation is the most popular method of contraception am ong women living in rural areas of the state. Birth spacing, or delayi ng the birth of the first child by the rise of reversible for-ms of co ntraception, is not the common practice among these women.