Bangladesh 1993-1994 Demographic and Health ... - Measure DHS

When data on current contraceptive use from husbands and wives are matched, there is considerablediscrepancy (Table 9.5). Overall, 55 percent of husbands report that they are currently using family planning,compared to only 49 percent of their wives. The largest discrepancy comes in reported pill use; 23 percentof husbands report current use of the pill, compared to 19 percent of their wives. Most of the differenceconsists of couples in which the husband says they are using the pill and his wife says she is not currentlyusing any method. Use of condoms and male sterilization is each one percent higher as reported by husbandsthan as reported by wives; however, use of withdrawal is slightly lower as reported by husbands than wives.Husbands appear to be misinformed about the use of periodic abstinence; 8 percent of them say they are usingthe method, compared to only 6 percent of their wives. Again, most of the difference is due to wives whosay they are not using any method. It is possible that at least some of these discrepancies in reporting ofcontraceptive use could be due to extra-marital use.Table 9.5 Comparison of reported contraceptive use by spousesPercent distribution of couples according to wife's and husband's reported current contraceptive use status, Bangladesh1993.94Wife's reportFemale Male Notllusband's sterih- stefih- Periodic With- currendyreport Pill IUD Injection Condom zation zanon abstinence drawal Other using TotalPill 16.9 0.2 0.6 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.3 0.1 3.8 22.81UD 0.0 1.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.l 0.0 0.0 0.1 2.0Injection 0.2 0.0 3.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.6 4.6Condom 0.1 0.0 0.0 2.3 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.0 1.0 4.0Female sterilization 0.0 0,0 0.0 0.0 8.1 0.l 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 8.6Male sterilization 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0,3 1.3 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.4 2.2Periodic abstinence 0.2 0.l 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.0 2.2 0.7 0.1 4.2 7.8Withdrawal 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 1.0 0.l 0.6 2.1Other 0.I 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.6 0.5 1.3Not currently using 0.9 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.1 0.0 1.9 0.9 0.5 39,3 44.6Total 18.6 2.3 4.8 3.0 8.6 1.4 5.8 3.1 1.4 50.9 100,09.3 Couples' Attitudes Towards Family Planning UseFamily planning use is facilitated when both husband and wife approve of its use. Table 9.6 showsthe percent distribution of couples by approval of family planning, according to selected backgroundcharacteristics. Overall, in 89 percent of the couples, both husband and wife approve of family planning, andin 2 percent, both disapprove. In 6 percent of couples, the wife approves but the husband does not, while in3 percent, the husband approves but the wife does not. Variations in the data by background characteristicsare small except in Chittagong Division, where couples are somewhat less likely to approve of familyplanning use and also less likely to agree with each other on the subject.Because both men and women interviewed in the BDHS were asked whether they approved of familyplanning and, if married, whether they thought their spouses approved of family planning, it is possible toexamine the extent to which husbands and wives report accurately on their spouses' attitudes. Table 9.7shows the percent distribution of couples by husband's and wife's attitude toward family planning, accordingto their spouse's perception of their attitude.124