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

Overall, 41 percent of respondents said that they and their husbands had equal influence in the decisionto use family planning for the first time, while 30 percent said that they had more influence, and 22 percentsaid their husbands did. Younger women are more likely than older women to say that their husbands hadmore influence in the decision. Differences by urban-rural residence and by division are small, except thatcouples in Rajshahi Division appear to be more egalitarian than most, with a larger proportion of womenreporting equal influence. Interestingly, a larger proportion of uneducated than educated women say that theyhad more influence in the decision to use family planning, while those with more education are likely toreport equal influence of husband and wife in family planning decisionmaking.4.6 Problems with Current Method of Family PlanningAn understanding of the problems that users experience is important in efforts to improve familyplanning service delivery in Bangladesh. Table 4.12 presents information from the BDHS on the mainproblems reported by women who were currently using family planning methods. A sizeable proportion ofwomen using injection, female sterilization, the IUD, and the pill reported having health problems with theirmethods, Commoncomplaints were feelingweakortired andhavingheadaches. The mostcommonproblemreported by injection users is amenorrhea (no menstruation), while IUD users complain of excessive bleeding.Health problems were rare or nonexistent among users of condoms, male sterilization, periodic abstinence,and withdrawal, presumably because all of these methods are either used by men or, in the case of periodicabstinence, by mutual consent of the couple. Non-health problems were rarely reported for any method.Table 4.12 Problems with current method of family planningPercentage of current users of family planning who are having problems with their method, by specific method and type ofproblem, Bangladesh 1993-94Contraceptive methodFemale Malestefili- sterili- Periodic With-Pioblem Pill IUD Injection Condom zation zation abstinence drawa/ Other TotalAny health problem 32.7 35.9 47.7 4.3 47.2 14.5 0.0 1.2 13.0 29. iWeight gain 1.4 0.6 0.6 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.8Weight loss 2.7 5.3 3.5 0.0 12.8 2.0 0.0 0.3 3.6 4.2Excessive bleeding 2.0 13.1 4.2 0.0 6.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.4 3.2Hypertension 0.3 2.2 1.3 0.0 1.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.7Headache 21.6 8.8 15.4 0.0 15.7 1.9 0.0 0.4 2.9 13.4Nausea 6.3 1.0 1.5 0.0 1.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.0No menstruation 1.0 1.I 23.6 0.4 2.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.4Weak/tired 15.7 15.7 18.9 0.4 29.3 9,9 0.0 0.4 5.5 14.7DizzinessOtl~r4.57.31.215.85.910.60.83.110.420,50.09.00.00.00.00.92.45.44.59.1Non-health problem 1.2 2.1 1.2 1.7 2.4 6.1 0.6 0.0 1.3 1.5Number of users 1560 196 404 269 766 98 434 220 96 40454.7 Reasons for Selecting Family Planning MethodsIt is useful to understand why couples choose to use a particular method as opposed to another. Is itbecause they have little knowledge about methods or limited access to them? This question is of particularimportance in Bangladesh, where women have at least heard about most of the methods (see Table 4.3) andthus are more able to make informed choices. It is also useful to understand why the pill has become thepredominant method in recent years. Table 4.13 shows the distribution of current users of specific methodsby the main reason they decided to use that method.51