Assessment of Private Providers’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Related to Long-Acting and Permanent Methods of Contraception in Bangladesh

Jorge I. Ugaz, University of Chicago and Abt Associates
Kathryn Banke, Abt Associates
Julie Williams, Abt Associates
Stephen Rahaim, Abt Associates
Wahid Chowdhury, SHOPS Project

In the last couple of decades, Bangladesh has made impressive gains in increasing contraceptive prevalence and decreasing fertility. However, current use of long acting and permanent methods (LA/PM) is still very low, which can be an impediment for the current objective of the government of Bangladesh of achieving a target of 2.0 births per woman by 2016. To better understand supply-side constraints to LA/PM provision in Bangladesh, we undertook a survey of obstetrician/gynecologists (Ob/Gyns), general practitioners (GPs), and nurses working in Dhaka and Chittagong to assess the existence of poor knowledge, biases and misconceptions among those private providers towards LA/PM. We find that clinical knowledge of proper use of LA/PM is low. We conclude by drawing policy recommendations from these findings.