ABSTRACT
Background: India is world’s second most populous country next to China. Family planning is a key intervention for population control. In urban field, most of population (60%) resides in urban slum area with deprived and vulnerable population. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of contraceptive use in married women of reproductive age group also to study socio-demographic factors and sources associated with the contraceptive use and the reasons behind not using.Methods: A community based descriptive cross sectional study of 5 months duration was conducted among married women in reproductive age group (15-45 year) resident of urban slum area. 234 samples were selected by simple random sampling method. Data was collected through interviews of study subjects using a semi structured questionnaire.Results: Out of 234 women, 98 (41.9%) women said that they are using some method of contraception, which are condom (6.8%), OC pills (4.3%), copper-T (4.7%) and female sterilization (26.1%). Religion, socio-economic status is not significantly associated with acceptance of contraception, but the education and employment are the key influencers for the contraceptive use. The major sources of information are doctors from the government hospitals and auxiliary nurse midwives.Conclusions: The prevalence of contraceptive use in married women of reproductive age group (15-45 year) in urban slum area is found to be 41.9%. Spacing methods including the modern methods of contraception are not getting accepted. More efforts should be taken to remove fear and misconceptions about contraceptive use.
ABSTRACT
Breastfeeding practices play an important role in reducing child mortality and morbidity. This study was aimed to describe the breastfeeding practices prevalent in urban slum area. A cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2011 to December 2011 in slum region catering urban health training center (UHC) that is attached to a government medical college, Solapur, Maharashtra. All mothers having child 0 to 24 months included in the study, 594 women were identified using universal sampling (inclusion and exclusion criteria were used) and data was collected using pretested questionnaire on breastfeeding practices. Dependent variable was breastfeeding practices including exclusive breastfeeding. Analysis was done with SPSS version 16. It was found that More than half (70.2%) infants were exclusively breast fed (EBF) up to six months of age. Pre-lacteal feeds were given to 44.9% infants while colostrum was not given to 16.5% infants. Practice of EBF was found to be significantly associated with age of mother, type of family and education of mother.This study emphasizes the need for breastfeeding intervention programs especially forthe mother during antenatal and postnatal check-ups and practices like discarding the colostrum and pre-lacteal feed, late initiation of breastfeeding are still widely prevalent and need to be addressed.