Thursday 11 September 2003, 11am, U Lounge
Knowledge, perceptions and behaviour of Nepalese men in family planning
Govinda P Dahal, University of Southampton
Until recently, fertility and family planning research in Nepal has solely relied on women. However, designing effective policies and programs is impossible without understanding the family planning knowledge, perceptions and behaviour of men.
This paper thus explores the knowledge of, attitude towards and use of contraception among unmarried and married men in Nepal. The paper also looks at the factors associated with different levels of contraceptive behaviour among single and married men. The paper further analyses the contribution of covariates using logistic regression models.
The data used come from Nepal Adolescents and Young Adults (NAYA) Survey 2000 and Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS) 2001. Information is drawn from 3,802 unmarried and married men aged 14-22 years interviewed by the NAYA survey and from 2,261 married men aged 15-59 years interviewed by the NDHS survey.
The results indicate that knowledge of the condom among both single and married men is highest whilst knowledge of the rhythm method, withdrawal and the intra-uterine device (IUD) is very low. Perceptions of both single and married men of small family size are positive. A significant proportion of men who are not using contraceptive methods now intend to adopt methods of contraception in the near future but they are not sure which method to adopt.
Department of Social Statistics
University of Southampton
Southampton SO17 1BJ
Email: gpd@socsci.soton.ac.uk
Exploring the meanings of terminologies related to pregnancy intention: the Nepalese perspectives
Mahesh Puri, Joystna Tamang, Anjeeta Pradhan, Zoë Matthews and Roger Ingham, University of Southampton
The terms 'planned', 'unplanned', 'intended', 'unintended', 'wanted' and 'unwanted' are often used in relation to pregnancy intention in reproductive health policy, health services and health research. However, no universal meaning of these terms has been found in the literature.
This paper discusses an understanding of these terminologies by Nepalese young men and women, health service providers and community leaders. The information is drawn from 125 free listings and from 64 in-depth interviews conducted in four districts of Nepal. The study revealed that most of the respondents did not use the above terms spontaneously.
When introduced to the terms and asked for explanations, there was a considerable variation in the understanding. Respondents applied the terms 'planned' if they met at least six criteria. Wishing to have a baby, timing of the childbearing and stopping use of contraception were not sufficient criteria in themselves to be a 'planned pregnancy'. Mutual understanding between the partners and a plan keeping in mind the future of the child are also important. The respondents' understanding of the term unplanned pregnancy varied from getting pregnant without wishing to, getting pregnant without planning for the future, failure of family planning method, getting pregnant without a desire to have baby, getting pregnant without thinking of a child, getting pregnant without discussing with a spouse, and a mistake.
The paper also discusses the explanations offered for wanted, unwanted, intended and unintended and the difference between these terms. Results suggest that survey questions measuring pregnancy intention should not only rely on the timing of the childbearing as was measured in earlier health research. Ranges of questions are required to measure the pregnancy intention more accurately.
Division of Social Statistics
University of Southampton
Southampton SO17 1BJ
Email: mpuri@socsci.soton.ac.uk
Female autonomy as a contributing factor to the vulnerability of women to HIV infection in three culturally contrasting states of India
Paula Griffiths, Loughborough University, and Shelah Bloom, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina
The female disadvantage in less-developed countries and particularly south Asia with regard to health and well-being is well documented. In India, HIV/ AIDS is an emerging health problem, with HIV prevalence growing from 1.8 million in 1994 to 3.8 million in 2001 (National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) 2002). In India little is known about risk factors for HIV/ AIDS including women's knowledge and behaviour regarding HIV/ AIDS and condom use.
Using data from ever-married women aged 15-49 from the 1998/99 Indian National Family Health Survey for the states of Uttar Pradesh (n=9,292), Karnataka (n=4,374 ), and Kerala (n=2,884) we use logistic regression to investigate the association between four indicators of female autonomy (access to money, level of involvement in household decision making, level of permission needed to go places, and acceptability of domestic violence) with four outcomes:
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HIV/ AIDS knowledge
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Knowledge of how to avoid HIV/ AIDS
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Condom knowledge
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Condom use
We find AIDS knowledge is lowest in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh (20 per cent) compared to Karnataka (58 per cent) and Kerala (87 per cent). Uttar Pradesh has the highest prevalence of all of the indicators of female status. Access to money is the most consistent predictor of all of the outcomes. It significantly predicts (P<0.01) HIV/ AIDS and condom knowledge in all three states, knowledge of how to avoid HIV/ AIDS in Karnataka and Kerala, and condom use in Uttar Pradesh. Consistent with findings for other health outcomes in India we observe female status to be associated with risk factors for HIV.
Department of Human Sciences
Loughborough University
Loughborough LE11 3TU
Tel: +44 (0)1509 228486
Fax: +44 (0)1509-223940
Email: P.Griffiths@lboro.ac.uk
A demographic analysis of contraception and abortion in Iran - 2000
Jalil Iranmahboob and Hassan Eini Zinab, Shiraz University, Iran
Abortion is one of the oldest methods of averting unwanted births. This practice has had its supporters and dissidents from all perspectives and viewpoints. In general, abortion and contraception provide only the means to achieve lower levels of fertility. In Iran, a country where religious values are of high importance, abortion has been illegal and unacceptable. On the other hand, Iran has experienced a sharp and unprecedented decline in its fertility rates in the last 15 years. The fertility rate, which had declined from a total fertility rate (TFR) of 7.1 to a TFR of 2.6 between 1986 and 1996, has continued to fall further. This gives a significant status to a study of fertility and abortion as a proximate determinant of fertility.
This paper aims to study abortion and contraception indirectly by using data on the pregnancy history of ever-married women aged 15-49. Data from the Iran Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2000 has been used. The procedure has two stages of data analysis:
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Comparative description of characteristics of women who have experienced abortion vs non-experienced women of reproductive age
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Inferential analysis in two stages:
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Provincial level data analysis that uses aggregated data for 28 provinces separately for urban and rural areas and the Tehran metropolitan area
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Individual level analysis that takes the highest and lowest areas as samples of study
The results of the analyses confirm the Tietze and Dawson theory that abortion and contraception are complementary rather than a competitive means to control fertility. On the other hand, the results confirm the Davis theory that in the stage of transition from traditional to modern societies, couples will switch to abortion if they find contraceptive methods unreliable.
Email: Iranmah@hotmail.com
Email: hassaneinizinab@yahoo.com