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===Laws & Social Stigmas===
===Laws & Social Stigmas===


In Nepal, you can purchase oral contraception (birth control pills) without a prescription.<ref>[http://ocsotc.org/wp-content/uploads/worldmap/worldmap.html Global Oral Contraception Availability]</ref> <ref>[http://freethepill.org/where-on-earth/ Free the Pill: Where on Earth?]</ref> According to a 2015 report, it's estimated that 52.4% of Nepali women (who are of reproductive age and married or in unions) use some form of contraception, including traditional methods, and 23.9% have unmet family planning needs. The most common forms of contraception were female sterilization (18.3%), injectables (13.2%), birth control pills (4.8%), male sterilization (4.8%) and withdrawal, also known as the "pull-out method" (3.9%). It was found that only 3.8% of Nepali women used condoms as their primary form of contraception. Meanwhile, there was very low usage of IUDs (1.7%) and contraceptive implants (1.3%).<ref>[http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/family/trendsContraceptiveUse2015Report.pdf Trends in Contraceptive Use Worldwide 2015]</ref>
In Nepal, you can purchase oral contraception (birth control pills) without a prescription.<ref>[http://ocsotc.org/wp-content/uploads/worldmap/worldmap.html Global Oral Contraception Availability]</ref> <ref>[http://freethepill.org/where-on-earth/ Free the Pill: Where on Earth?]</ref> According to a 2015 report, it's estimated that 52.4% of Nepalese women (who are of reproductive age and married or in unions) use some form of contraception, including traditional methods, and 23.9% have unmet family planning needs.<ref>[http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/family/trendsContraceptiveUse2015Report.pdf Trends in Contraceptive Use Worldwide 2015]</ref> This shows a slight change over 2011 data, collected by Nepal Population and Housing census, which found that 49.7% of women took any form of contraception and that 27% had unmet family planning needs.<ref>[http://www.searo.who.int/entity/maternal_reproductive_health/documents/nep-mmr.pdf?ua=1 Nepal and Family Planning: An overview]</ref> In 2015, the most common forms of contraception were female sterilization (18.3%), injectables (13.2%), birth control pills (4.8%), male sterilization (4.8%) and withdrawal, also known as the "pull-out method" (3.9%). It was found that only 3.8% of Nepali women used condoms as their primary form of contraception. Meanwhile, there was very low usage of IUDs (1.7%) and contraceptive implants (1.3%).<ref>[http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/family/trendsContraceptiveUse2015Report.pdf Trends in Contraceptive Use Worldwide 2015]</ref>


For Nepalese women, it's common get married at a young age, often in the teen or adolescent years. For Hindu women, it's common to have an arranged marriage, though "love marriages" are becoming increasingly common. In these arrangements, many women will have their first child at a young age. However, there are NGOs and local organizations in Nepal, which distribute contraceptives and aim to reduce child pregnancy. According to some sources, there isn't an overwhelmingly negative stigma toward contraception in Nepal, and it's taken by many married women. Yet it should also be noted that Nepal is still very much a patriarchal society, where married women live in the house of their husbands and must often follow the rules dictated by their mother-in-laws, husbands and other men in their lives, so not all women have the full agency or autonomy to make such choices on their own.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/jul/07/zoe-williams-nepal-contraception-pregnancy Zoe Williams: how contraception is rocking Nepalese society]</ref>
For Nepalese women, it's common get married at a young age, sometimes in the teen or adolescent years. For the majority of the population, which is Hindu, the marriage is typically arranged. However, "love marriages" are becoming increasingly popular in Nepal. Regardless of whether a marriage is arranged or a "love marriage," many women have their first child at a young age. According to studies, over half of married women in Nepal do not want any more children. Over the past few decades, contraceptives have become more prevalent in Nepalese society. In fact, NGOs and local organizations distribute contraceptives to women in Nepal.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/jul/07/zoe-williams-nepal-contraception-pregnancy Zoe Williams: how contraception is rocking Nepalese society]</ref> Over the past few decades, Nepal has seen a drop in its fertility rates, going from 5.1 births per woman in 1985 to 2.6 births per woman in 2011.<ref>[http://www.searo.who.int/entity/maternal_reproductive_health/documents/nep-mmr.pdf?ua=1 Nepal and Family Planning: An overview]</ref> According to some sources, Nepalese society does not carry an overwhelmingly negative stigma toward contraception. Yet it should also be noted that Nepal is still very much a patriarchal society, where married women usually live in the house of their husbands and follow the rules dictated by their mother-in-laws, husbands and other men in their lives. For this reason, not all women have the agency or autonomy to make such choices on their own.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/jul/07/zoe-williams-nepal-contraception-pregnancy Zoe Williams: how contraception is rocking Nepalese society]</ref>


===What to Get & Where to Get It===
===What to Get & Where to Get It===

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