KANPUR: When it comes to family planning and using of contraceptives, Uttar Pradesh has something to cheer as far as sterilisation is concerned because this trend had registered a growth in the last five years. Leaving behind Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, UP recorded maximum number of vasectomy and tubectomy operations in 2009. Taking a leap from 49.26 lakh sterilisations in 2004-05 to 51.50 lakh in 2009, the state has shown a rising trend in adopting sterilisation as a method of family planning.Despite availability of different methods of contraceptives, the data indicate that female sterilisation is still the most favoured one. In 2008-09, 48.70 lakh women have got tubectomy conducted with only 2.80 lakh men preferring vasectomy. According to the figures of National Family Health Survey (NFHS), only 2 per cent had undergone vasectomy in the state, including only 0.3 per cent share of Kanpur.Associate professor, surgery, Lala Lajapat Rai (LLR) Hospital GD Yadav said: "Male sterilisation is still not acceptable by the society due to myths like impotency, complications in reproductive tract and pain. Therefore, refined method of conventional vasectomy i.e. `no scalpel vasectomy' is being favoured these days."Family planning has always been associated with numerous misconceptions. One of them is its association with sterilization and birth control. The main objective of the family welfare programme is to make people adopt small family norms to stabilise the country's population. Initially, the programme adopted the model of the three child family. In the 1970s, the slogan changed to `Do ya teen bas' and in the 1980s it was `Hum Do Humare Do' (two child norm). However, at present the emphasis has been on three themes: `Sons or Daughters: two will do', `Second child after three years' and `Universal immunization'.However north Indian states still continue to have lower contraceptive prevalence rates. UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Orissa contribute 40 per cent to the population.Chief medical officer, Dr Ashok Mishra, said: "Many women who are sexually active avoid to become pregnant and do not use contraceptives as they depend on their partners. These women, especially married ones, are considered to have an `unmet need' for family planning. It is the `unmet need' which poses a challenge to family planning programmes.""Amongst the most common reason for unmet need are inconvenient or unsatisfactory services, lack of information, fear about side effects of contraceptives and opposition from husband or relatives," he added.According to the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-2006), about 12.8 per cent of married women have an `unmet need' for family planning. The `unmet need' for spacing the birth was almost the same for limiting the births. The highest of 27.1 per cent `unmet need' among women below 20 years of age was for spacing the births rather than limiting the births. Relatively, it was high for women in age group of 20 to 24. Whereas, the `unmet need' for contraception among women aged 30 years and above was mostly for limiting the births.Notably, the non-prevalence of contraceptive usage was 14.1 per cent in rural areas, higher in comparison to urban areas which was only 9.7 per cent. The variation was due to education status and priority to religion. Though the NFHS-3 results predicted that current use of contraception has increased and the extent of `unmet need' has declined, states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan need a considerable improvement in family planning services.Despite the availability of different contraceptive devices since the past 10 years, family planning doesn't seem to hold significance for couples in the city. According to the district-level household survey 2007-08 here, 52 per cent are not using any method. It also came to light that 19.5 per cent of women had undergone tubectomy and 0.3 per cent men had vasectomy. Whereas 14.1 per cent men are using condoms and 2.3 per cent women IUDs.City nodal officer of State innovations for family planning services agency Rajendra Prasad Singh said: "The condition is similar in both the urban and the rural areas. The reasons for such deplorable status is that many couples are not the regular users. They frequently switch over from one device to other."