health

Updated: Sep 05, 2017 18:50 IST

Two new free contraceptives, an injectable drug and a pill that the centre introduced in July this year were formally launched on Tuesday in 10 states.

The introduction of new contraceptives will expand the basket of choices for the country’s population to meet their family planning needs.

The contraceptives, which are available for free in medical colleges and district hospitals at present, have so far been launched in the states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Haryana, West Bengal, Odisha, Delhi and Goa.

“The contraceptives are safe and highly effective, the ‘Antara’ injectable being effective for three months and the ‘Chayya’ pill for one week, and will help meet the changing needs of couples and help women plan and space their pregnancies,” read the health ministry statement.

The contraceptives are being launched under the government’s Mission ParivarVikas, a central family planning initiative.

The mission is being implemented in 146 high focus districts that house 44% of the country’s population, with the highest total fertility rates of 3 and more in the country.

The high focus districts are in the seven states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Assam.

The main objective of the Mission Parivar Vikas family planning initiative is to bring down the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) to 2.1, which is when the population starts stabilizing, by the year 2025.

Training of healthcare practitioners from all the states has been completed as well, with a pool of state and district level doctors and staff nurses being trained to support the roll-out.

To help improve the supply and distribution of contraceptives, the health ministry had recently launched a new software, Family Planning Logistics Management Information System (FP-LMIS), designed to provide robust information on the demand and distribution of contraceptives to health facilities and ASHAs (community health workers).