Invest in Future: Prioritising Youth Family Planning (Policy)

Dividend of our much-touted youth bulge will remain a pipedream unless our policy makers realise the need for investing in the health, education, and general wellbeing of the young. Our young population is at a greater risk than adults when using contraceptive services. This risk results from a lack of early education in human reproductive system as well as the cultural taboos surrounding the subject. Affordability, accessibility, and knowledge of contraception are inadequate for young women and couples who would want to space pregnancies. Individuals’ reproductive intentions remain uninformed by critical awareness that swells the number of unintended pregnancies, further aggravated by hazardous unprofessionally administered abortions.

ONE-THIRD OF YOUNG MARRIED WOMEN HAVE A DESIRE TO USE CONTRACEPTION

There are misconceptions that family planning is for older or married women, despite the fact that many adolescent girls are sexually active. Nearly one third of the young married women, aged 15-19, have a desire to use contraception but are not currently using any contraceptive methods in Pakistan.

EARLY INITIATION OF CHILDBEARING IS LINKED TO EDUCATION, OR LACK OF IT

Universally, early childbearing before age 18 is associated with many sociodemographic and economic risk factors for young women. For instance, having a child during teenage has adverse consequences for both mother and child’s health. Similarly, women who marry before they are 18 are more likely to drop out of school and are less likely to work.

In Pakistan, eight percent of teenage women between 15-19 have begun child bearing and it has remained unchanged since 2012-13 (NIPS 2018). Young women, aged 15-19, with no formal education are at a higher risk of teenage childbearing. Around 15 percent of the teenage ever-married girls with no formal education had already begun childbearing.

DISCONNECT BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND USE OF CONTRACEPTION AMONG MARRIED WOMEN AGED 15-19

Around 93 percent of currently married teenage women (15-19 years) are not using any contraceptive methods. However, when it comes to knowledge about contraceptive use, only 9 percent of the teenage women did not know any family planning method. A vast majority of women (90.5 percent) know about modern contraceptive methods (Figure 3a & 3b).

UNINTENDED FERTILITY AND UNMET NEED FOR FAMILY PLANNING AMONG YOUNG WOMEN 

Despite the universal knowledge of family planning methods, particularly modern methods, the lack of use of contraception results in unintended fertility. According to PDHS 2017-18, around 4 percent of the births among mothers less than 20 years old are mistimed. Unmet need for family planning is higher among women aged 15-19. Nearly 18 percent of the young currently married women have an unmet need for family planning in Pakistan (NIPS 2018).