Understanding unmet contraceptive needs among rural Khasi men and women in Meghalaya

Datos Bibliográficos

ID15098697
AutoresPauline Oosterhoff (0000-0002-2579-7138, Institute of Development Studies, autor de correspondencia), Badalam Dkhar (Martin Luther Christian University), Sandra Albert (0000-0003-0355-9283, Indian Institute of Public Health, Lawmali, Shillong, India)
Año2015
Volumen17
Número9
Páginas1105-1118
Fecha de publicación2015-10-21
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCulture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691058.2015.1042918
PMID26109041
OpenAlexW2117267056
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas27

There is a global push for increased access to contraception to respond to unmet contraceptive needs. Meghalaya state, with a majority of Indigenous people, has one of the highest unmet contraceptive needs and the lowest contraceptive prevalence rates in India. This qualitative study explores the reasons for the low uptake of contraceptives among Khasi people in a rural district. While policy makers assume that individuals may not be practising family planning because of religion and lack of education, couples actually do use a variety of 'natural' or 'traditional' contraceptive methods to obtain their desired family composition and size. Health providers focus on the provision of hormonal contraceptives, such as the pill, and on technologies such as IUDs and tubectomies that require regular follow-ups by trained medical staff. Health concerns, distrust of contraceptive technologies, the inadequate local health system and a desire to have more than two children are important factors in the low uptake of available contraceptive technologies. Contraceptive choices in rural areas are shaped by the historically problematic political engagement of Indigenous people with the central state, with policy implementation taking place on the basis of widespread assumptions rather than on evidence from contextually relevant behavioural sciences research

Distrust · Economic growth · Environmental health · Family planning · Focus group · Indigenous · Pill · Political science · Population · Rural area · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Global Maternal and Child Health · Medicine · Nursing · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare