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

male sterilization (83 percent). Considering the traditional methods included in the questionnaire, periodicabstinence is more widely known than withdrawal (65 vs. 50 percent of currently married women).Knowledge about sources of supply for family planning methods is also widespread in Bangladesh.Almost all currently married women (98 percent) are aware of a source for a modem method of contraception.The great majority of women (96 percent) know a source where the pill is available; 93 percent know whereto go for female sterilization; 89 percent know a source for injection; and 79 percent know about sources forIUDs and condoms. It is encouraging to note that 75 percent of women know a source for male sterilization.Trends in Knowledge of Family Planning MethodsAs mentioned above, the proportion of women of reproductive age who know of at least one familyplanning method has been extremely high for some time in Bangladesh. However, as shown in Table 4.2,knowledge of specific methods has become more widespread. For example, the proportion of ever-marriedwomen who have heard of the IUD doubled over the past decade, from 42 percent in 1983 to 89 percent in1993-94. Knowledge of injection and especially the condom has also increased. The largest increases inknowledge levels occurred between 1975 and 1983 for most modem methods, however, knowledge of theIUD increased greatly between 1983 and 1989.Table 4.2 Trends in knowledge of family planning methodsPercentage of ever-married women age 10-49 who know specificsources, Bangladesh, 1975-1994family planning methods, selected1975 1983 1985 1989 1989 1991 1993-94Method BFS CPS CPS CPS BFS 1 CPS BDHSAny method 81.8 98.6 99.6 99,9 100.0 99.9 99.7Any modern method 80.0 98.4 99.5 99.9 99.0 99.8 99.7Pill 63.9 94.1 98,6 99.0 99.0 99.7 99.5IUD 40.1 41.6 65,4 80.4 78.0 88,9 89.4Injection U 61.8 74.1 87.5 81.0 95.2 96.3Vaginal methods 10.0 19.4 26.3 25.8 24.0 U UCondom 21.1 59.0 75.5 76.9 83.0 85.6 86.6Female sterilization 53.1 95.5 97,8 99.2 98.0 99.4 98.8Male sterilization 51.4 72.9 84.3 84.0 87.0 87.4 82.9Any traditional method 49.0 54.8 62.8 71.7 U 83.3 75.0Periodic abstinenceWithdrawal28.015.126.419.841.220.840.114.446.030.068.048.664.049.0Number of women 6515 8523 8541 10293 11907 10573 9640U = Unknown (no information)1Published data were presented in whole numbers; the decimal was added to balance the table.Source: 1975 BFS (MHPC, 1978:A245 and Vaessen, 1980:16); 1983 CPS (Mitra and Kamal, 1985:85,89); 1985 CPS (Mitra, 1987:67, 70); 1989 CPS (Mitra et al., 1990:81, 84); 1989 BFS (Huq and Cleland,1990:60); 1991 CPS (Mitra et al., 1993:42)Differentials in Knowledge of Methods and SourcesBDHS data reveal that there are no significant differences in knowledge of methods and their sourcesof supply by background characteristics of currently married women (Table 4.3). Knowledge of at least onemethod, particularly a modem method, is universal among both urban and rural women, among women inall five divisions, and across all categories of educational attainment.40