State govt faces uphill task Prabal Kr Das GUWAHATI, Sept 18 – After years of Government apathy, concerted efforts are being made to meet family planning targets in Assam. This gains added significance because not only has the state registered a sharp rise in population, its fertility rate is also high.
Today the State’s fertility rate stands at 2.7. According to official estimate, Assam would only be able to lower it to 2 by the year 2011.
“Achieving the family planning targets would be an arduous task, and the State Health Department would have to go for strategic interventions if the burden of a growing population is to be checked,” said a senior Health Department official. He said that in areas such as river islands, family planning is yet to be an accepted norm due to a variety of factors.
In response to the prevailing situation, the National Rural Health Mission has identified some areas of the State where specific interventions would be made. The strategies include ASHA workers as family planning agents with a wider array of contraceptives, training of medical officers on non-scalpel vasectomy, trainings of ANMs on Copper-T 380 A, fixed-day male sterilisation and insurance cover for both patients and doctors.
It has also been learnt that the NRHM has identified 11 high focus districts for intensive work, most of them in the Lower Assam region. Some of the districts have poor literacy and high levels of poverty.
According to NRHM data, for the period 2009-10 targets have already been set. The target for female sterilization is 1,26,000 and 24,000 for male sterilisation. Moreover, if things go according to plan, 90,000 IUCD insertions would be carried out within the period.
Speaking to The Assam Tribune, Dr JB Ekka, Mission Director of NRHM mentioned that interesting trends were being observed in the area of family planning, including males in larger numbers coming forward for sterilization. During the period 2008-09, 1144 males were sterilised, while in 2007-08 only 19 underwent the procedure.
Referring to female sterilization, Dr Ekka revealed that during 2008-09 around 47,916 were sterilised, compared to 17,227 in 2006-07.
Acknowledging that the State was still lagging behind in controlling the fertility rate, he said that in certain areas there actually was “an actual unmet need”. The positive thing was, more people realising the value of planned families, he added.
In order to bring momentum to the ongoing efforts, new posts of family planning co-ordinators have been created. Six of the newly appointed personnel have already taken up assignments in different districts, Dr Ekka noted.
