Family Planning Needs during the Extended Postpartum Period in a High Fertility State "Bihar" in Northern India

Vishal D. Shastri, BBC Media Action

Background/Significance: Bihar is one of India’s most populous states with the highest TFR and very low level of CPR. BBC Media Action is implementing a 5 yr. grant from BMGF to shape demand and practices around 9 family-health behaviours including FP. Present paper is based on the analysis of benchmarking survey data on FP. Methodology: The evaluation design adopts a pretest-posttest design with appropriate statistical controls. A multi-staged cluster sampling approach used, sample size of 7646 respondents was spread across 200 PSUs from Bihar. Findings: Findings suggest a very low use and very high unmet need post birth. About 12% women using modern FP method during 1st yr. of birth and only 9% using within 6 months. 2/3 extended postpartum women expressed unmet need (limiting 40%; spacing 27%). Program lessons learned: Program needs to identify women with unmet need during extended postpartum period and communication should target the identified triggers-barriers.