Awareness and Attitude of Wives of Laborer Outmigrants Originating from Indian Subcontinent Towards Emergency Contraceptives- A Multi-Country Study

Sandeep Kumar Guran; Khadija Parveen Aalam; Monia Manjur; Gaurav Kapoor  lowast; Mohammad Intesar Alam; Satya Mehra; Soni Kumari

doi:10.17485/IJST/v17i25.1531

Article

Awareness and Attitude of Wives of Laborer Outmigrants Originating from Indian Subcontinent Towards Emergency Contraceptives- A Multi-Country Study

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Indian Journal of Science and Technology

DOI: 10.17485/IJST/v17i25.1531

Year: 2024, Volume: 17, Issue: 25, Pages: 2650-2657

Original Article

Awareness and Attitude of Wives of Laborer Outmigrants Originating from Indian Subcontinent Towards Emergency Contraceptives- A Multi-Country Study

Sandeep Kumar Guran¹, Khadija Parveen Aalam², Monia Manjur³, Gaurav Kapoor^1∗, Mohammad Intesar Alam⁴, Satya Mehra⁵, Soni Kumari⁴

¹Research Scholar, IIHMR University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
²Senior Consultant, IQVIA, New Delhi, India
³Lecturer, Department of Social Work, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Shonapur, Noakhai, Bangladesh
⁴Research Officer, IIHMR University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
⁵Senior Consultant, MNCH, National Youth Foundation, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

*Corresponding Author
Email: [email protected]

Received Date:09 May 2024, Accepted Date:03 June 2024, Published Date:25 June 2024

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Objective : The present study aims to analyze the attitude and awareness of wives of male migrants (WMM) towards EC (Emergency Contraceptives Pills) residing in either of three countries of the Indian subcontinent (India, Bangladesh, and Nepal). Further, the present study also aims to identify the socioeconomic determinants of the EC awareness of WMM. Methods : A cross-sectional survey of 621 WMM was conducted across multiple low-income sites in the three countries. Findings: The majority of the respondents (77.6%) reported being aware of EC methods, out of which the majority (32%) reported their friends circle to be the primary source of knowledge followed by husband (23.4%), family members (19.9%) and healthcare workers (9.8%), respectively. About 56% of the respondents reported that they consumed EC pills more than thrice in the last year. The study discovered that WMM engaged in unprotected intercourse about 5 times (SD= ±1.6) on average in the last year. While the reported consumption of EC pills by WMM was 2.6 times (SD= ±1.2) on an average during the same year. Regression analysis revealed that ‘place of husband’s migration’ is the strongest determinant of WMM’s EC awareness (OR=3.67, p<0.05), followed by ‘age of the WMM’ (OR=2.12, p<0.05), and ‘religion’ (OR=1.32, p<0.05) respectively. Furthermore, ‘having children’ was also found to be a significant determinant (p<0.05). Novelty : Firstly, the study offers an examination of comparison of WMMs’ attitudes and awareness residing in three low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), an area not thoroughly investigated in previous studies. Secondly, the study has identified the factors influencing the awareness of EC among WMM, a subject largely unexplored in prior research. Conclusion : We conclude that based on the findings the level of awareness of EC is not adequate and policymakers could use these findings to strengthen the reproductive health policies of targeted intervention groups.

Keywords: Emergency contraceptives, Left behind, Wives of migrants, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Low- and middle-income countries

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Copyright

© 2024 Guran et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Published By Indian Society for Education and Environment (iSee)