Profile of unmet needs of family planning in an urban slum of Ganjam district, Odisha, India: a cross-sectional study

Background: Unmet need for family planning refers to the percentage of fecund women of reproductive age either married or in union, women who either wish to postpone the next birth (spacers) or who wish to stop child bearing (limiters) but are not using a contraceptive method. This clearly indicates a gap between a woman’s reproductive intention and current contraceptive behaviour. The objectives of the present study was to determine the prevalence of unmet need for family planning, to assess the association between socio-demographic characteristics and unmet need of family planning, to identify the reasons for unmet need.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted from June to August 2018 in Ankuli (UHTC). A total of 188 ever married women in the reproductive age group were selected by simple random sampling.Results: Out of 188 women, 41 (21.8%) had no need for contraception and needs for family planning of 78 (41.5%) women had been met. The prevalence of unmet need for family planning was 36.7% consists of 24 (12.8%)  spacing need and 45 (23.9%)  limiting need. It was found that age, education of women, age at marriage, number of living children, contraceptive knowledge and inter-spousal communication were significantly associated with unmet need for family planning. The most common reason for not using any contraceptive method was fear of side effects (40.6%).Conclusions: The unmet need for family planning was high and in order to reduce the gap, the program should address the above reasons

Validation of Mobile Messages for an mHealth Intervention for Smokeless Tobacco Cessation in India

BACKGROUND: With the growth in use of mobile messages for behaviour change, the need to incorporate personal needs and cultural characteristics of target users has been promoted. The study aimed to describe the findings of content validation of mobile messages designed to promote smokeless tobacco cessation in primary care. METHODS: This study used a concurrent mixed-method approach with 13 patients who were tobacco users at urban primary care clinics. The clarity and appeal of 32 messages were rated on a Likert scale from 1 to 10. A mean clarity and appeal score per message was generated. A 5-item discussion guide was used for in-depth interviews and data was analysed using framework analysis. RESULTS: Participants found the content of the messages useful, and preferred shorter and audio formatted messages. The clarity scores for the messages ranged from 7.9 to 9.4 with an average score of 8.7 (SD 0.5). The appeal scores ranged from 7.3 to 9.2, with an average score of 8.5 (SD 0.6). CONCLUSIONS: Twenty-six from a total of 32 messages were found appropriate and finalised for use. This methodology can be used when developing contextually relevant mobile message interventions in other low resource settings

Combating the COVID-19 pandemic in a resource-constrained setting: insights from initial response in India

The low-and-middle-income country (LMIC) context is volatile, uncertain and resource-constrained. India, an LMIC, has put up a complex response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an analytic approach, we have described India’s response to combat the pandemic during the initial months (from 17 January to 20 April 2020). India issued travel advisories and implemented graded international border controls between January and March 2020. By early March, cases started to surge. States scaled up movement restrictions. On 25 March, India went into a nationwide lockdown to ramp up preparedness. The lockdown uncovered contextual vulnerabilities and stimulated countermeasures. India leveraged existing legal frameworks, institutional mechanisms and administrative provisions to respond to the pandemic. Nevertheless, the cross-sectoral impact of the initial combat was intense and is potentially long-lasting. The country could have further benefited from evidence-based policy and planning attuned to local needs and vulnerabilities. Experience from India offers insights to nations, especially LMICs, on the need to have contextualised pandemic response plans