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

Bibliographic Data

ID15098697
AuthorsPauline Oosterhoff (0000-0002-2579-7138, Institute of Development Studies, corresponding author), Badalam Dkhar (Martin Luther Christian University), Sandra Albert (0000-0003-0355-9283, Indian Institute of Public Health, Lawmali, Shillong, India)
Year2015
Volume17
Issue9
Pages1105-1118
Publication date2015-10-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture Health & Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-1058 • E-ISSN: 1464-5351
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691058.2015.1042918
PMID26109041
OpenAlexW2117267056
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited27

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