Playing Safe: 26 percent increase recorded in use of contraceptives in Gilgit-Baltistan

ISLAMABAD: If official figures are to be believed, the use of contraceptives has increased in the country’ relatively conservative regions Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in the year 2012-13 compared to the previous year.

On the other hand, their use had sharply decreased in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa according to a contraceptive performance report prepared by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) for 2012-13.

The report explores the usage of contraceptives provided in the market by government and private outlets.

Even in Islamabad, where most of the people are believed to be more educated and aware of the effects of the rising population, contraceptives’ use has declined by 20.3 per cent.

The table provides the percentage increase or decrease in the use of contraceptives in 2012-13 compared to the year 2011-12. However, the report does not delve into the reasons for the steep fall in the use of contraceptives in the four provinces.

PBS maintained that at the national level, the use of contraceptives witnessed a decline of 2.2 per cent in 2012-13 from the previous year.

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world as its population increased from 37 million in 1947 to 184.35 million in 2013, the report stated.

As part of the programme, 187.707 million units of condoms were sold followed by 6.460 million cycles of oral pills, 1.228 million insertions of internal uterine devices (IUDs) and 2.911 million vials of injectables.

In addition, 103,842 contraceptive surgeries were also performed during the financial year 2012-13.

The overall use of condoms, oral pills, and injectables increased by 25.7 per cent, 3.8 per cent and 7.6 per cent respectively, the report claimed. However, a decline of 6.6 per cent in IUDs and 13.2 per cent in contraceptive surgery was observed, it added.

Use of condoms witnessed 20.3 per cent increase in Fata, 19.1 pc in KP, 26.2 per cent in GB, 4.5 per cent in Sindh, 9.7 per cent in Punjab, and 10.4 per cent in Islamabad. However, Balochistan and AJK saw a decrease of 1.6 and 6.1 per cent respectively in the use of condoms.

The use of oral pills went up by 52.5 per cent in Fata, 14.9 per cent in KP, 2.7 per cent in Punjab and 1.4 per cent in GB, the report said. In Sindh, this figure went down by 14.1 per cent, 14.8 per cent in Balochistan, 5.5 per cent in Islamabad and 5.4 per cent in AJK.

For percentage increase in contraceptive surgery cases, AJK led with 27.3 per cent increase. However, a decrease of 16.9 per cent was observed in Punjab followed by 21.2 per cent in Sindh, 4.2 per cent in KP, 21.4 per cent in Balochistan and 2.6 per cent in Islamabad.

Courtesy: DAWN