Population control

THE latest National Family Health Survey-5 report is heartening as it shows an overall improvement in the country’s public health parameters related to maternal and child well-being, resulting from greater use of contraceptives. These gains assume significance for they are, in turn, indicators of a sure, though slow, progression towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals that India is committed to. While the finding that family planning methods are more prevalent among the rich and working-class women than the poor lot is not surprising, the region-wise statistical details should lead to the fine-tuning of policies and strategies aimed at population control.

Punjab — with its traditional preference for the male child — has fared better in family planning this time than the last survey of 2015-16, but there is still scope for a more focused approach for tackling gender discrimination. With their impressive figures, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have been exemplary in curbing child marriage, but Punjab has not done enough on this count.

It is encouraging that knowledge of birth control methods among men and women in the reproductive age of 15-49 years is near total. But the fact that just 56.4 per cent adopt these methods shows that the awareness and sensitisation campaign for the lower socio-economic stratum needs to be stepped up with higher budget outlays and wider outreach. It is crucial for achieving the targeted replacement-level fertility rate of 2.1 (the rate at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next). It is directly related to lowering maternal and infant mortality figures and bettering children’s health. However, the one factor consistent over the years and requiring course correction is the fact that the onus of family planning continues to be on the woman. Having a blinkered view, 35 per cent of India’s men believe that using contraceptives is the woman’s responsibility, with Chandigarh topping the chart with 69 per cent of its men holding this unfounded belief. This is totally unfair.