Exploring the Reasons for Non-utilization of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services in Kanpur Nagar District of Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

In this study, the reasons of non-use of family planning (FP) and reproductive health (RH) services in Kanpur slums, non-slums and rural areas are analysed. The study uses the USAID-ITAP Kanpur Nagar Reproductive and Child Health Status in slum, non-slum and rural areas data of 2006. Percentage distribution and multinomial logistic regression analysis technique are used to study the reasons of non-use of family planning and reproductive health services in the Kanpur Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. Across the residence category, the private sector health facility was used by the inmates for seeking FP and RH care services. For non-use of government health facility, poor quality care (56%), no nearby government facility (50%) and waiting time being too long (28%) were the most cited reasons by males, females and children. Mean distance to government health facility for deliver care is higher than the private facility. About 26% of the women wanted to have more children, the reason they never used contraception. Urban women those never used contraception for the want of more children range from 26.0% in non-slum to 27% in slums, while in rural areas this was 26%. Health-related problem was the most cited reason (40%) for women discontinuing the IUCD/Copper-T. The reason for not consuming the 100+ days IFA tablets/syrup that was received is that they felt sick (39%), while 15% also said they do not need all tablets received. The main reason why mothers of children aged 0–35 months stopped breastfeeding is that they got pregnant (29%) with higher percentages saying so in rural areas (40%) compared to urban areas (23%). Twenty-five percent of the women said they got insufficient breast milk, while another 10% told that the child refused the breast milk, with marked rural–urban variations. The government targeted conditional cash transfer schemes relating to health care such as Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and benefits under Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) may be remodelled such that it builds better compliance on part of the beneficiaries with regard to such services received.