Women's use of contraception in rural India: a village-level study.
This paper examines the determinants of contraceptive use among married women in four villages in rural West Bengal, India. It uses primary quantitative data obtained from a survey of 600 women and qualitative data derived from ethnographic methods. Bi- and multi-variate analyses demonstrate that the factors that most influence a woman's use of contraception include her age, the number of living sons she has, and her religious affiliation. The study also shows that the availability and quality of permanent village-based government health care affects the use of modern contraception. The use of temporary family planning methods is negligible in the area.
Chacko
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Department of Geography, The George Washington University, Quigley's Room 202, 619 21st street, N.W., Washington, DC 20052, USA. echacko@gwu.edu
D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003273:Contraceptive Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D010298:Parity; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012424:Rural Population; D014932:Women's Health Services