title: Contraceptive practice of the tribal women in tea garden area of North Bengal.
abstract: A total of 860 tribal tea garden women in the Jalpaiguri district were surveyed by means of detailed questionnaires to obtain information of their contraceptive knowledge and practices and also to see the literacy rate among themselves. Analysis was done of their literacy level, family planning awareness, access to information and communication, methods of contraception adopted and utilisation of healthcare facilities. Majority (85%) of the tea garden women including all the age groups were illiterate. The overall contraceptive prevalence was 40.2% but most of the current users (22.6%) subjected to tubal sterilisation for family planning, couples were not enthusiastic about using the reversible methods; 59.7% women had lack of adequate information regarding various contraceptives. Contraceptive practice, as birth spacing method, needs to be given tremendous emphasis in order to improve the reproductive health of the tribal women. Education, information, choices and rights for decision-making only can achieve this.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata 700014.
authors.forename: Sudip Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: Tarasankar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bag
authors.forename: Kumar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: De Aloke
authors.forename: Sonela
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Basak
authors.forename: Alpana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chhetri
authors.forename: Jasoman
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Banerjee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D002648:Child; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D003270:Contraceptive Agents; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D010865:Pilot Projects; D044382:Population Groups / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D003270:Contraceptive Agents