The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Bangladesh made remarkable achievements in increasing the contraceptive prevalence rate to 56 percent from 8 percent over the last three decades. But to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the country should attain an increase in contraceptive use by more than 25 percent up to 2015.

The increase in users of contraceptive was possible due to higher use of temporary methods. But the use of permanent and long-term methods has decreased during the period, a recent study of a research organization showed.

The study conducted by the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT), Mitra and Associates, and ORC Macro 2007, showed that the majority of modern contraceptive method acceptors currently use pills even though more than half have already completed their desired family size or in case when they want no more children.

According to the study report, the current family planning programme has not been successful in motivating couples who do not want any more children in accepting long-term and permanent contraceptive methods.

"There is a little emphasis on the balance in the effective use of contraceptive methods while the imbalance in the method- mix is being considered as one of the reasons for the delay in reaching replacement level fertility," it said.

Since high discontinuation of contraceptive methods is one of the programmatic issues persistent in many developing countries, women in Bangladesh frequently discontinue contraceptive pills, injectables and IUDs because of side- effects, the report said.

Experts in their survey report suggested training for the service providers to increase their knowledge and skills in managing contraceptive side-effects. They also need training for providing reproductive health (RH) services too, particularly reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Programme efforts should, therefore, be strengthened to educate couples about probable side-effects of contraceptive methods and to enhance the service providers' capacity to deliver family planning (FP) services based on clients' eligibility as well as life cycle needs.

The Population Council has undertaken an operations research study under the Demand Based Reproductive Health Commodity Project (DBRHCP) to test a service delivery model, which is intended to enhance the rational use of modern contraceptive methods among rural women in Bangladesh, it mentioned.

The NIPORT is implementing the project with four partners with financial assistance of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and technical assistance by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Meanwhile, donor contributions for contraceptives and condoms for HIV prevention globally amounted to $223 million in 2007, a five per cent increase over the 2006 total of $212 million, according to a new analysis by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

"This is despite a growing unmet need for such supplies, as more couples use modern methods of contraception and world population continues to increase," the experts commented in the report.

Contained in donor support for contraceptives and condoms for STD and HIV prevention in 2007 the, the report showed that funding for these supplies had virtually stagnated since 2001, when it peaked at $224 million.

According to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals report for 2007, globally some 200 million women have an unmet need for effective family planning.

The report also showed that donor investments in the female condom marked a six fold increase from nearly $2 million in 2001 to almost $13 million in 2007. In addition, it said, 85 per cent of donor support in 2007 was allocated to three types of supplies: male condoms, oral contraceptives and injectables.