Colombo: Difference between revisions

In Sri Lanka, you can purchase birth control pills without a prescription. You can also access other forms of contraceptives, such as implants, condoms, etc. In the 1970s, Sri Lanka emphasized sterilization as a contraceptive method. But, since the 1980s, Sri Lanka has increasingly emphasized reversible contraceptive methods. This helped bring down the total birth rate in the 1990s. In 1987, it was estimated that 31% of Sri Lankan women had unmet family planning needs. By 2007, this dropped to a range between 1.6% (by narrowest definition) to 19.3% (under the broadest definition of unmet needs). As reported by the Guttmacher Institute: "Reliance on traditional contraceptive methods declined between 1987 and 2007, whereas modern method use increased (from 41% to 53%). This greater reliance on modern contraceptives was facilitated by the increased availability of reversible methods, as reflected by a shift in the ratio of sterilization to reversible modern methods from 3 to 1 in 1987 to 1 to 2 in 2007."<ref>[https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/article_files/4120015.pdf Unmet Need for Family Planning in Sri Lanka: Low Enough or Still an Issue?]</ref>