KATHMANDU, Feb 15 - Nepal has made remarkable progress in birth control measures over the five years starting 2001, said a report made public on Friday.
According to a preliminary draft of the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in rural areas in Nepal came down to 3.3 in 2006 from 4.4 in 2001. It, however, remained static at 2.1 in urban areas during the same period. "Overall, Nepal now has a TFR of 3.0," said Dr B K Subedi, Director of Family Health Division at the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP).
Dr Subedi said teenage child bearing witnessed a decline in the rural areas but a slight rise in urban areas. The number of women between 15-19 getting pregnant or giving birth to their first child reached 19 percent in 2006, a 4 percent decline as compared to the statistics of 2001. However, the number of such women in urban areas reached 16 percent in 2006, up from 13 percent in 2001.
The NDHS report said that the use of modern methods of contraception has gone up during the period. The report says 44 percent of women in Nepal use modern means of contraception. The percentage of such people in the country was 35 percent in 2001 and 26 percent in 1996. Additionally, some 4 percent of people use traditional means of contraception, added the report.
The report further revealed that immunization against BCG, DPT, Polio and measles for children aged between 12 to 23 months reached 83 percent in 2006, a whopping 49 percent increase since 1996. This has resulted in reduction of the Childhood Mortality Rate to 61 in 2006 from 91 per one thousand in 2001.
Likewise, various intervention programs launched by both the government and non-government organizations have reduced the Unmet Need of Family Planning (UNFP) by 19 percent between 1996 and 2006. The percentage of UNFP, which dropped to 25 in 2006, was 28 and 31 in 2001 and 1996 respectively.
Addressing the report launch ceremony, Acting Secretary at MoHP Dr Bishnu Prasad Pandit, chief of Population Department at the Ministry Binod Gyawali, and USAID/Nepal Director Beth S. Paige expressed confidence that the findings of the report would be helpful in formulating an appropirate plan and polices regarding health as they reflected the real needs and aspirations of people.
The function was organized to furhter discuss the findings of NDHS 2006, which was jointly prepared by Macro International Inc., New Era and the Department of Health Service at MoHP with funding support from USAID/Nepal.
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