altHERnative

Lack of Contraceptive Access in Rural India

and its Effects on Young Indian Women
and low life expectancies due to poverty.

I
Given the statistics, it is evident that low
n this day and age, the world
female literacy rates, high fertility rates, low
population is increasing at a startling
life expectancy, and low GDP are associated
rate. Much of this can be attributed to the
with rural areas as seen in Figures 1, 2, 3
large reproduction rates in developing
and 4.
countries, such as India. As of 2016, the

fertility rate in India was 2.45 children born

per woman on average, with a normal rate of

reproduction or replacement being two

children per family2. In rural areas, the

fertility rates tend to be much higher, and

lower in urban areas. Many children born in

rural India are born into poverty. Because of

this, the average life expectancy in India is

68.35 years, ten years less than a typical

Figure 1: The average fertility rates by state, indicating
fully developed country such as the United rates that are above replacement and below replacement
levels.6

States2. In many cases, female literacy is a

huge indicator of these high fertility rates

 Figure 4: The average life expectancy by state. Lower life
expectancies tend to be in the same regions as lower GDP,
lower average female literacy, and higher fertility rates.6
Figure 2: The average female literacy rates by state. Lower
female fertility rates tend to be in the same regions of
India as higher fertility rates.6
Methodology: Contraception in
Rural India and its Effects on
Lifestyle
To decrease poverty levels in rural India, a

potential solution could be to increase access

to contraception, consequently decreasing

fertility rates, leveling population growth,

increasing female literacy, increasing GDP

per capita, and increasing life expectancies.

To increase the living conditions for women

in developing countries, and to benefit the

Figure 3: The average GDP per Capita by state. The lower living conditions of their children, women
GDP tends to be centralized in the same regions as the
highest fertility rates and lowest female literacy rates.6
must be educated. However, to get an

education, women must have time to do so,

and having children makes this much more Many women "fear using the modern

difficult. Studies have shown that "Female contraception [due to] perceptions of side

education in particular is known to affect a effects that they have heard about"1. This

host of social, economic and demographic misinformation is causing a large majority

variables such as age at marriage, of women to opt out of birth control,

employment status, and fertility, and is decreasing their likelihood of finishing their

positively related to the use of education.

contraceptives"1. Therefore, an increase in

In addition to this misinformation,
the use of contraceptives could lead to an
there are extremely limited health services.
increase in female autonomy, and vice versa.
For example, [In Kutali, India], at present,
In urban Kutali, India, there are family
only three of the 51 villages have
planning services in place. However, out of
government health centers. These health
290 women targeted to take the oral pill,
centers are all lacking in facilities for in-
only 68, or 23.4% committed to taking it7.
patient care1. Because many of these
This limited use of contraceptives can be
centers do not have in-patient care, much of
attributed to poor health education about
the information passed along to patients is
contraceptive services, and a lack thereof.
relayed by auxiliary nurse midwives rather

Figure 5: Shows the increasing prevalence of modern contraception in all Indian States. Usage is increasing; however, this
national average is at least 10 percent3 lower than the national average in developed countries such as the United States.7
than doctors. Many rural cities which lack without contraceptive access, a predicted

proper healthcare centers often receives 28.8 percent7. Although this statistic is

visits by health workers. However, these projected to improve, the ratio is not high

visits are terribly infrequent and brief, enough to decrease female fertility rates

maintaining that information regarding significantly.

contraceptive practices is not relayed

Discussion
properly, and contraception is virtually The lack of contraceptive availability
inaccessible. in rural India is a public health concern

because of the implications of high fertility

Results: Need for Contraceptive
Distribution in Rural India in impoverished areas. Because much of
Data across India has shown that
Indian population growth stems from more
although there are policies in place for
rural regions, the majority of children being
contraceptive use in India, they are not
born in these areas are born into poor living
sufficient in providing contraception to a
conditions. There need to be more policies
majority of the female population. For
in place to provide proper contraceptive
example, in the rural town of Manipur, as
methods to rural regions of India, to prevent
stated before, the prevalence of modern
the birth of children into hunger and
contraceptive use in 2015 was only 14.7 per
poverty. Not only will an increased level of
cent, and there was a 40.3 per cent rate of
contraceptive access aid in bettering the
unmet needs for modern methods of
lives of children, it will aid in bettering the
contraception8. The use of contraceptive
lives of women. In todays progressive
methods has been expected to increase in the
society, women who have access to birth
coming years, however, many women in
control will be more likely to attend school,
rural towns such as Manipur will still be left
and have an increased chance of pursuing a
career. Female underrepresentation in the
workforce in India could be partially
attributed to the lack of contraceptive
accessibility, and the patriarchal nature of
family structures in India. Implementations
of better health education and health
services will give women more power over
their choices, and support autonomy. In
addition, if the implementations of better
health education and contraceptive
distribution reach people worldwide, the rate
of worldwide population growth will begin
to decrease. If this is achieved, life on earth
will be more sustainable, considering the
lack of available resources on earth to
maintain the current population growth.
For these ideals to become realistic,
it is recommended that Indian communities
and the Indian government take on the
challenge of incorporating more reliable
womens health care into local government
policies and hospitals. It would also be
beneficial to incorporate health education
into public education classes. By doing this,
it will increase the probability of
contraceptive use in India, and make it more
likely that women, men, and children have
better living conditions.
END NOTES
1
Chacko, Elizabeth. Women's Use of
Contraception in Rural India: a Village-Level
Study. Health and Place, vol. 7, no. 3, Sept.
2001. ScienceDirect, doi:10.1016.
2
CIA World Factbook. Country Comparison >
Total Fertility Rate. Total Fertility Rate -
Country Comparison, Indexmundi, 2017
3
Contraceptive Use in the United
States. Guttmacher Institute, Guttmacher
Institute, 21 Sept. 2017.
4
Creanga, Andreea A, et al. Low Use of
Contraception among Poor Women in Africa: an
Equity Issue. Bulletin of the World Health
Organization, vol. 89, 1 Feb. 2011. World Health
Organization, doi:10.2471.
5
Katz, Brigit. Why 222 Million Women Cant
Get the Birth Control They Need. The New York
Times, The New York Times, 7 Feb. 2017
6
Lewis, Martin. Population Bomb? So Wrong --
How Electricity, Development, and TV Reduce
Fertility. The Breakthrough Institute, The
Breakthrough Institute, 8 May 2013.
7
New, Jin Rou et al. Levels and Trends in
Contraceptive Prevalence, Unmet Need, and
Demand for Family Planning for 29 States and
Union Territories in India: a Modelling Study
Using the Family Planning Estimation Tool. The
Lancet: Global Health, vol. 5, no. 3, Mar. 2017.
8
Ram, Faujdar, et al. Use of Traditional
Contraceptive Methods in India and Its Socio-
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Medical Research, vol. 140, Nov. 2014.
9
Roser, Max, and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina. World
Population Growth. Our World in Data, Our
Wold in Data, 2017.