Understanding the pattern of contraceptive discontinuation in India

Kiran Agrahari, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Often research and programmes in many developing countries are focused on contraceptive adoption to achieve the demographic targets. But the focus on discontinuation of methods, method related problems and switching over of method has given less attention. The discontinuation of contraceptive method may lead to unintended pregnancy and have adverse health outcome. The national family welfare programme in India has been successful in increasing the spacing method to 18 percent among currently married women. But studying women's behaviour after acceptance, in particular, determining whether they sustain use is vital. This paper analyses calendar data of 2005-06 National Family Healthy Survey of India to understand the contraceptive discontinuation behavior of women. Results suggest that women’s age, place of residence, level of education, type of family, method related difficulties, sex composition of children, and socioeconomic status of living have significant influence over switching behavior and discontinuation.