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

Family Planning MessagesIn order to gauge the extent of family planning information and education activities, respondents inthe BDHS were asked if they had heard or seen a message about family planning in the media (radio,television, billboard, or poster) in the month before the survey. Table 4.28 presents the percentage of evermarriedwomen who were exposed to such messages, according to background characteristics.Slightly less than half of the women (47 percent) reported that they had heard or seen a family planningmessage in one or more of the four media. Radio is a more effective medium than television, billboards orposters, which is hardly surprising in a country with limited electrical coverage and low female literacy. Twoin five women had heard a family planning message on the radio in the month before the interview, comparedto less than one in five who had seen a message on television. Moreover, almost all women who had seena family planning message on television, had also heard a radio message. Less than one in ten womenreported seeing a family planning message on a billboard or poster in the month prior to the interview.Recent exposure to family planning messages through the mass media varies between urban and ruralareas. Urban women are more likely to have been exposed to media messages than rural women (70 vs. 43percent, respectively); this is true for all four types of media. Differences in media exposure by division arenot large, although television messages are more commonly reported by women in Dhaka Division than bywomen in the other divisions. Exposure to family planning messages through the mass media is positivelycorrelated with educationallevel. Only 36 percent of uneducated respondents reported having heard a familyplanning message, compared to 77 percent of the women with secondary education.Table 4.28 Exposure to family planning messagesPercentage of ever-married women age 10-49 who heard/saw a message about family planning(FP) in the month preceding the interview, by type of media and selected backgroundcharacteristics, Bangladesh 1993-94Type of media At least NumberBackground one FP ofcharacteristic Radio Television Billboard Poster message womenResidenceUrban 54.1 55.9 19.5 25.2 70.4 1108Rural 40.5 12,2 3.5 6.2 43.4 8532DivisionBarisal 39.2 10.2 7.1 10.5 42.6 606Chittagong 42.4 17.8 4.3 7.4 45.6 2527Dhaka 44,4 23.0 7.7 10.8 50.7 2963Khulna 38.8 14.2 4.8 7.8 42.8 1217Rajshahi 41.3 12.6 3.4 6.0 45.1 2326EducationNo education 33.6 9.4 1.g 3.6 36.4 5598Primary incomplete 45.1 15,0 4.4 7.3 48.6 1681Primary complete 51.4 20.3 7.0 10.3 56.9 921Secondary/Higher 65.4 48.5 19.3 27.0 76.9 1439Total 42.1 17.2 5.4 8.4 46.5 964066