A Study to Assess the Unmet Needs of Family Planning in Gwalior District and To Study the Factors That Helps in Determining It

While real progress has been made in improving access to family planning globally, the unmet needs continue to grow. So the present study was designed to determine the percentage of unmet needs of family planning in Gwalior district and to study the various co-relative factors responsible for the unmet need for family planning. The present study was a Cross Sectional Descriptive study carried out from Jan 2007 to July 2007. 520 married women were interviewed using a pre designed, pre tested structured proforma. The district was divided into urban and rural areas. The rural area was further divided into four blocks. From each block one PHC and five Sub Centers under the respective PHC were selected randomly. From each Sub Centre 11 married women were selected. The Urban area was divided into four divisions and from each division five wards were selected randomly. From each ward 20 married women were selected. Proportion, Chi square test and ODDs ratio were applied to interpret the result. The unmet need of family planning in Gwalior district was 21.70%. It was higher in rural area and women of the age group of 15-19 years. The unmet needs were also higher among women who did not have any media exposure or did not discuss about family planning with their husbands. The present study concludes that Family Planning services should be specifically directed toward the married women of the age group of 20 years or less.