Manipur, which has the distinction of housing the highest number of HIV-AIDS positives, ranks lowest in the country in use of contraceptive method.
The National Family Health Survey 2015-16, conducted by the union health ministry, found that the use of contraceptive methods was the lowest in Manipur and Meghalaya (24% each) besides Bihar.
The survey found that the use of condoms had gone up in 10 years from 2% to 12% among sexually active unmarried women aged 15 to 49 years.
The maximum use of condoms among unmarried women was seen in the 20-24 years age group. The survey also found that three out of eight men believed contraception was “women’s business”, and that the man should not have to worry about it.
The overall contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) was just 54% among married women aged 15 to 49, with only 10% using a modern contraceptive method.
A large number of women still used “traditional” contraceptive methods.
Among unmarried, sexually active women, though, the prevalence of modern contraceptive methods was much higher, the survey found.
Modern contraceptive measures include condoms, female and male sterilisation, pills, diaphragms and intrauterine devices (IUDs).
The survey also found that 65% of Sikh women and Buddhist/Neo-Buddhist women used modern contraception, compared with 38% of Muslim women.
According to the survey, Punjab tops in use of contraceptive method.
Unsurprisingly, modern contraceptive use increased with wealth, from 36% of women in the lowest wealth quintile to 53% in the highest quintile.
Almost seven in 10 (69%) of modern contraceptive users obtained their method from the public health sector, the survey found.
The NFHS-4, prepared by the International Institute for Population Science (IIPS), consisted of interviews and field tests of 6,01,509 households with a response rate of 98%. The survey was started in the 1990s.
