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

Among pill users who were able to show a packet, it appeared that most users took the pillssystematically. Only 6 percent of pill users showed the interviewers packets in which pills had apparentlybeen taken out of sequence. Of these women, many reported that either health reasons or ignorance had ledthem to take pills out of order (data not shown).Eleven percent of pill users said that the last time they had taken a pill was more than two days beforethe interview. Although it is possible that most of these women were in the period between packets, it islikely that many were unprotected, since most pills used in Bangladesh are meant to be taken continuously.Of those who had not taken a pill in the past two days, four-fifths said that the reason was that they weremenstruating, that they had run out of pills, or that their husbands were away (data not shown). All theseindicators of the quality of pill use show only minor variations by background characteristics of the women.All current pill users were also asked the following question: "Just about everyone forgets to take a pillsometime. What do you do when you forget to take a pill for two days in a row?" As shown in Table 4.17,two-thirds ofpiU users gave correct responses, i.e., that they would take extra pills, use another method, orboth. Most of the remainder declined to answer the question in that they said they never forgot to take a pill.Almost one in ten said they would continue taking the pill as usual, taking only one pill on the day theyforgot, and thus possibly leaving themselves exposed to risk of pregnancy.Prompted by reports that pill users frequently "pause" between pill packets, survey organizers includeda question in the BDHS on this topic. One in four (27 percent) of pill users reported that they sometimeswaited after finishing one packet before starting the next packet (data not shown). Since there were nosubsequent questions on why they waited or how frequently this occurred, there is no way of knowing if suchpauses are due to ignorance of correct procedures, difficulties in obtaining supplies, or intentional lapses.Similarly, it is not possible to determine whether pauses are a common occurrence or only occur infrequently.Cost of Pill PacketsTable 4.18 shows the distribution of pill users by how much they sayone packet of pills costs them. Over two-thirds of pill users (68 percent) saythey obtain their supplies free of charge. Most of the remainder pay fivetaka or more for a packet.4.9 Condom BrandsAs mentioned above, 3 percent of currently married women in Bangladeshare using condoms as a method of family planning (see Table 4.6).To measure the impact of the social marketing program on condom use,women who said that they and their husbands used condoms were showna chart depicting all the major condom brands and were asked which brandof condom they used. Men would presumably be a more reliable source ofdata on condom brands; however, due to the larger sample of women thanof husbands covered in the B DHS, and the fact that a major source of condomsis field workers who may give them to the wife instead of thehusband, the data shown in Table 4.19 are derived from women.Table 4.18 Cost of pillsPercent distribution of currentpill users by cost of one packetof pills, Bangladesh 1993-94CostPercentFree 68.2< 1 taka 1.71-2 taka 5.63-4 taka 3.55+ taka 18.0Missing/Don't know 2.9Total 100.0Number of pill users 1560It is apparent that condoms sold by the Social Marketing Company enjoy a high market share. Thethree social marketing brands together account for 52 percent of the condom market, with Raja aloneaccounting for 30 percent and Panther for an additional 22 percent. When women who could not name thebrand of condom are excluded, the social marketing brands account for 61 percent of the market. The56