The impact of mass media family planning programmes on current use of contraception in urban Bangladesh

A sample of 871 currently married urban Bangladeshi women was used to asses s the impact of mass media family planning programmes on current contracept ive use. The analyses suggested that radio had been playing a significant r ole in spreading family planning messages among eligible clients; 38% of wo men with access to a radio had heard of family planning messages while the figures for TV and newspaper were 18.5% and 8.5% respectively. Education, n umber of living children and current contraceptive use were important predi ctors of exposure to any mass media family planning messages. There was a n egative relationship between breast-feeding and the current use of contrace ption indicating a low need for contraception among women who were breast-f eeding.