Meeting Needs of Newly-Married Youth: The Bangladesh Case

In Bangladesh more than 1.15 million couples get married every year and approximately 90 percent of female spouses are below nineteen years of age. It is widely reported that newly married couples (those who are married within the last 12 months) were less likely to have been visited by field workers and have had limited access to family planning including reproductive health services. Findings from 1996–97 Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) suggest that little change has occurred in the age specific fertility rates among the females belonging to age groups fifteen to nineteen and twenty to twenty-four in the last five years [1]. It is also observed that the current contraceptive use rate in age group fifteen to nineteen was 32.9 percent and approximately 10 percent of women in age group fifteen to nineteen do not want any children. The male methods use rate among the newlywed couples was double the national rate. It suggests that males from the younger generation are more likely to practice male contraceptive methods compared to the older generation. Married youths and those soon-to-be-married are critical demographic segments of the population. Achieving early population stabilization depends on how adequately and effectively the national reproductive health program serves them and how other development programs simultaneously compliments to health efforts. Using 1996–97 BDHS data, this article examines fertility and contraceptive behavior of the married youths in Bangladesh.

Maternal and child health services: evaluating mothers' perceptions and participation

Urban mothers' perceptions and their actual practices in respect of antenatal care, postnatal care, childbirth and breast-feeding were reviewed through a predesigned questionnaire provided to all mothers (n = 114) staying for a day in the Clinical Research Centre of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. Only 8% of mothers surveyed were pregnant and 71% had access to a maternal and child health clinic near their homes. Although 61% of the mothers replied that antenatal care is needed, 45% of all mothers actually used the service. Similarly, 79% of them felt that postnatal care is needed, yet only 26% attended the clinics. Only 6% of all mothers had their previous children delivered at a hospital or clinic. The majority (91%) were delivered at home, traditional birth attendants assisting in childbirth in most cases (74%). In spite of mass campaigning against the use of pre-lacteal foods (like honey and sugar water), these were given to 90% of the newborns. Underutilization of maternal and child health clinics was mostly due to the clinics only being open during the busy hours of family work and because of the misbehaviour of the staff. Changing clinic opening times, supervising staff properly and educating mothers will help to overcome their taboos and to motivate them to use 'institutional services'.