Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among adolescents in India: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: In India, the prevalence of overweight among adolescents is on the rise, setting the stage for an increase in metabolic syndrome (MS). This paper presents the national prevalence of MS in adolescents in India. METHODS: A nationally representative data of adolescents (10-19 years) from the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey was used. MS was defined based on the NCEP-ATP III criteria for adolescents. Bivariate analysis was used to report socio-demographic differentials in prevalence and to assess interstate variability. Multivariate logistic regression model was constructed to measure the association between socio-demographic characteristics and prevalence of MS. Census data from 2011 was projected to 2017 to calculate burden. RESULTS: The prevalence of MS was 5.2% among adolescents. 11.9%, 15.4%, 26.0%, 31.9% and 3.7% had central obesity, high blood pressure, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL-cholesterol and high fasting glucose, respectively. The prevalence was higher among males (5.7% vs. 4.7%, adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.3, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0, 1.6), those residing in urban areas (7.9% vs 4.2%, AOR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.8), and from wealthier households as compared to their counterparts (8.3% vs. 2.4%, AOR: 3.4, 95% CI: 2.1, 5.5). There was wide interstate variability in the prevalence of MS (0.5% - 16.5%). In 2017, 14.2 million adolescents had MS in India. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of MS among adolescents in India is low and clustered in urban areas and richer households. Early prevention interventions promoting a healthy lifestyle, especially in high prevalence areas, are needed to keep MS from becoming a public health issue.

National guidelines for data quality in surveys: An overview.

Good quality health, nutrition and demographic survey data are vital for evidence-based decision-making. Existing literature indicates system specific, data collection and reporting gaps that affect quality of health, nutrition and demographic survey data, thereby affecting its usability and relevance. To mitigate these, the National Data Quality Forum (NDQF), under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS) developed the National Guidelines for Data Quality in Surveys delineating assurance mechanisms to generate standard quality data in surveys. The present article highlights the principles from the guidelines for informing survey researchers/organizations in generating good quality survey data. It describes the process of development of the national guidelines, principles for each of the survey phases listed in the document and applicability of them to data user for ensuring data quality. The guidelines may be useful to a broad-spectrum of audience such as data producers from government and non-government organizations, policy makers, research institutions, as well as individual researchers, thereby playing a vital role in improving quality of health, nutrition and demographic data ecosystem.

Quality of care in abortion in the era of technological and medical advancements and self-care.

BACKGROUND: Discussions around quality of abortion care have been focused mainly on service-delivery aspects inside healthcare facilities. More recently, with availability of medical abortion (MA), increase in its self-use, and emergence of other delivery platforms such as telemedicine, the responsibility of quality care has broadened to actors outside of facilities. BODY OF TEXT: This commentary discusses the meaning of quality of abortion care with the paradigm shift brought by medical and technological advancement in abortions, and raises questions on the role of the state in ensuring quality in abortion management-especially in settings where abortion is decriminalized, but also in countries where abortion is permitted under certain circumstances. It consolidates the experience gained thus far in the provision of safe abortion services and also serves as a forward-thinking tool to keep pace with the uptake of newer health technologies (e.g., availability of medical abortion drugs), service delivery platforms (e.g., telemedicine, online pharmacies), and abortion care providers (e.g., community based pharmacists). CONCLUSIONS: This commentary provides context and rationale, and identifies areas for action that different stakeholders, including health advocates, policymakers, program managers, and women themselves, can adopt to fit into an alternative regime of abortion care.

Socio-economic inequality in anthropometric failure among children aged under 5 years in India: evidence from the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016-18.

BACKGROUND: Conventional indicators used to access the nutritional status of children tend to underestimate the overall undernutrition in the presence of multiple anthropometric failures. Further, factors contributing to the rich-poor gap in the composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF) have not been explored. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of CIAF and quantify the contribution of factors that explain the rich-poor gap in CIAF. METHODS: The present study used data of 38,060 children under the age of five years and their biological mothers, drawn from the nationally representative Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey of children and adolescents aged 0-19 years in India. The CIAF outcome variable in this study provide an overall prevalence of undernutrition, with six mutually exclusive anthropometric measurements of height-for-age, height-for-weight, and weight-for-age, calculated using the World Health Organization (WHO) Multicenter Growth Reference Study. Multivariate regression and decomposition analysis were used to examine the association between covariates with CIAF and to estimate the contribution of different covariates in the existing rich-poor gap. RESULTS: An overall CIAF prevalence of 48.2% among children aged aged under 5 years of age was found in this study. 6.0% children had all three forms of anthropometric failures. The odds of CIAF were more likely among children belonging to poorest households (AOR: 2.41, 95% CI: 2.12-2.75) and those residing in urban area (AOR: 1.06, 95% CI 1.00-1.11). Children of underweight mothers and those with high parity were at higher risk of CIAF (AOR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.42-1.61) and (AOR: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.08-1.22), respectively. Children of mother exposed to mass media were at lower risk of CIAF (AOR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.81-0.93). CONCLUSION: This study estimated a composite index to assess the overall anthropometric failure, which also provides a broader understanding of the extent and pattern of undernutrition among children. Findings show that maternal covariates contribute the most to the rich-poor gap. As well, the findings suggest that intervention programs with a targeted approach are crucial to reach the most vulnerable groups and to reduce the overall burden of undernutrition.

Share of current unmet need for modern contraceptive methods attributed to past users of these methods in India.

Despite persistent efforts, unmet need for contraceptives in India has declined only slightly from 14% to 13% between 2005-06 and 2015-16. Many women using a family planning method discontinue it without switching to another method and continue to have unmet need. This study quantified the share of current unmet need for modern contraceptive methods attributed to past users of these methods in India. Data were drawn from two rounds of the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2005-06 and 2015-16. Using information on women with current unmet need, and whether they used any modern method in the past, the share of past users with current unmet need for modern methods was calculated. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Among 46 million women with unmet need, 11 million were past users of modern methods in 2015-16. The share of current unmet need attributed to past users of modern contraceptive methods declined from 27% in 2005-06 to 24% in 2015-16. Share of current unmet need attributed to past users was associated with reversible method use. This share rose with increased use of modern reversible methods. With the Indian family planning programme's focus on increasing modern reversible method use, the share of unmet need attributed to past users of modern methods is likely to increase in the future. The programme's emphasis on continuation of contraceptive use, along with bringing in new users, could be one of the key strategies for India to achieve the FP2020 goals.

Association of maternal height and body mass index with nutrition of children under 5 years of age in India: Evidence from Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016-18.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Child undernutrition remains an area of public health concern across the globe, particularly in developing countries like India. Previous studies have focused on the association of maternal nutrition with premature pregnancy and birthweight of child, with few establishing the intergenerational effect but limited to select populations and geography. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: This study used data from 35,452 children aged under 5 years and their biological mother from nationally representative Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) in India. The outcome variables were anthropometric indices: height-for-age, weightfor- height, and weight-for-age. The exposure variables were maternal height and body mass index (BMI). Multivariate regression analysis was used to examine the association between maternal height and BMI with child undernutrition. RESULTS: Out of total number of mothers, 11.1% were short in stature and 28% were underweight. Of total number of children, 33.9%, 17.3% and 32.7% were stunted, wasted, and underweight respectively. Children born to mother with short stature were more likely to be stunted (OR=1.73, 95% CI 1.59-1.89), wasted (OR=1.26, 95% CI 1.12-1.41) and underweight (OR=1.64, 95% CI 1.50-1.79). Similarly, children with underweight mother were more likely to be stunted (OR=1.63, 95% CI 1.53-1.73), wasted (OR=1.64, 95% CI 1.52-1.77) and underweight (OR=2.14, 95% CI 2.01-2.27). CONCLUSIONS: The study shows a strong association between maternal and child undernutrition demonstrating intergenerational linkage between the two. The national programme needs to focus on holistic and comprehensive nutrition strategy with targeted interventions to improve both maternal and child health.

Health workers' outreach and intention to use contraceptives among married women in India.

BACKGROUND: The influence of health workers on uptake of maternal healthcare services is well documented; however, their outreach for family planning (FP) services and influence on the intention to use contraceptives is less explored in the Indian context. This study examined the extent of health worker outreach for FP service and its effects on intention to use contraceptives among currently married women aged 15-49 years. METHODS: This study used data from two rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) of India, conducted during 2005-06 and 2015-16 respectively. Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were used to understand the level of and change in health worker outreach for FP services over time, and its association with intention to use contraceptives among currently married women. RESULTS: In the past 10 years, health workers' outreach for FP service has significantly increased by about 10 percentage points, although the level is not optimal and only 28% of non-users were reached by health workers in 2015-16. Increase in the outreach to younger and low parity women was higher than their respective counterparts. Intention to use contraceptive among women who were not using any method was 41% when health workers contacted and discussed FP, compared to only 20% when there was no such contact with health workers. Multivariable analysis suggests that contact with health workers has significant positive effects on intention to use contraceptive (AOR = 3.05; p < 0.001; 95% CI 2.85-3.27). CONCLUSION: Increased scope of outreach of frontline health workers to provide FP communication and services will not only help in building knowledge of contraceptive methods but will also increase women's intention to use a method. For India, this may be the most promising way to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 3.7, which calls for universal access to reproductive health services.

Is economic inequality in family planning in India associated with the private sector?

This study examined the pattern of economic disparity in the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) among women receiving contraceptives from the public and private health sectors in India, using data from all four rounds of the National Family Health Survey conducted between 1992-93 and 2015-16. The mCPR was measured for currently married women aged 15-49 years. A concentration index was calculated and a pooled binary logistic regression analysis conducted to assess economic disparity (by household wealth quintiles) in modern contraceptive use between the public and private health sectors. The analyses were stratified by rural-urban place of residence. The results indicated that mCPR had increased in India over time. However, in 2015-16 only half of women - 48% (33% from the public sector, 12% from the private sector, 3% from other sources) - were using any modern contraceptive in India. Over time, the economic disparity in modern contraceptive use reduced across both public and private health sectors. However, the extent of the disparity was greater when women obtained the services from the private sector: the value of the concentration index for mCPR was 0.429 when obtained from the private sector and 0.133 when from the public sector in 2015-16. Multivariate analysis confirmed a similar pattern of the economic disparity across public and private sectors. Economic disparity in the mCPR has reduced considerably in India. While the economic disparity in 2015-16 was minimal among those accessing contraceptives from the public sector, it continued to exist among those receiving services from the private sector. While taking appropriate steps to plan and monitor private sector services for family planning, continued and increased engagement of public providers in the family planning programme in India is required to further reduce the economic disparity among those accessing contraceptive services from the private sector.

Validation of Two Quality of Care Measures: Results from a Longitudinal Study of Reversible Contraceptive Users in India.

Bruce's quality of care framework, developed nearly three decades ago, brought needed international attention to family planning services. Various data collection efforts exist to measure the quality of contraceptive services. Our study validates two process quality measures and tests their predictive validity related to contraceptive continuation among 2,699 married women who started to use a reversible contraceptive method in India. We assessed four process quality domains with 22 items, which were reduced to 10 items using exploratory factor analysis. Weighted additive indices were calculated for the 22- and 10-item measures. Scores were trichotomized into high, medium, and low process quality received. The predictive validity of the two measures was assessed related to modern contraceptive continuation three months later. The adjusted odds of continuing a modern contraceptive three months later was nearly three times greater (AOR: 2.78; 95% CI: 1.83-4.03) for women who received high process quality at enrollment compared with low quality with the 22-item measure, and 2.2 times greater (95% CI: 1.46-3.26) with the 10-item measure. Results suggest that the 22- and 10-item measures are valid, and while the larger 22-item measure can be used in special studies, the 10-item measure is more suited for routine data collection and monitoring.

Transforming the attitudes of young men about gender roles and the acceptability of violence against women, Bihar.

Although the importance of working with young men to transform traditional gender norms has been widely acknowledged, programmes for young men remain sparse in highly gender stratified settings such as India, and those that have been implemented have not reached those in rural areas and those out-of-school. Drawing on data from a cluster randomised controlled trial with panel surveys, of a gender-transformative life skills education and sports-coaching programme conducted among young men aged 13-21 who were members of youth clubs, this paper examines the extent to which it transformed the gender role attitudes of young men and instilled in them attitudes rejecting violence against women and girls. The intervention succeeded in changing gender role attitudes and notions of masculinity, attitudes about men's controlling behaviours over women/girls, attitudes about men's perpetration of violence on a woman/girl and perceptions about peer reactions to young men acting in gender-equitable ways. Effects were particularly significant among young men who attended regularly, underscoring the importance of regular attendance in such programmes.

India's family planning market and opportunities for the private sector: An analysis using the total market approach.

The private (commercial) sector in India can complement public sector for family planning services, but the roadmap to engage these two sectors remains a challenge. The total market approach (TMA) offers a strategy by understanding the comparative advantage of public, commercial, and nonprofit sectors. We estimated TMA indicators using data of four rounds of the National Family Health Surveys: 1992-93, 1998-99, 2005-06, and 2015-16. The contraceptive prevalence of modern methods in India did not increase in recent years, but the number of users increased, and so did the market size for the commercial sector. In rural areas, the current market size in 2015-16 (75 million) failed to reach its potential size in 1992-93 (84 million). In urban areas, the market of modern contraceptives is mostly composed of the users from higher wealth, and a high percentage of users obtain contraceptives from subsidized sources. The family planning market of northern part of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and of Northeast India are in the "early" stage and need more demand generation; "matured" markets are mostly concentrated in and around big metros. Subsidization in urban areas should be offered to the targeted population who need family planning products and services at low cost.

Intersections between polyvictimisation and mental health among adolescents in five urban disadvantaged settings: the role of gender.

BACKGROUND: Polyvictimisation (PV) - exposure to violence across multiple contexts - causes considerable morbidity and mortality among adolescents. Despite high levels of violence in urban disadvantaged settings, gender differences in associations between PV and mental health have not been well established. METHODS: We analysed data from a survey with 2393 adolescents aged 15-19 years, recruited using respondent-driven sampling from urban disadvantaged settings in Baltimore (USA), Delhi (India), Ibadan (Nigeria), Johannesburg (South Africa) and Shanghai (China). PV was defined as exposure to two or more types of violence in the past 12 months with family, peers, in the community, or from intimate partners and non-partner sexual violence. Weighted logistic regression models are presented by gender to evaluate whether PV is associated with posttraumatic stress, depression, suicidal thoughts and perceived health status. RESULTS: PV was extremely common overall, but ranged widely, from 74.5% of boys and 82.0% of girls in Johannesburg, to 25.8 and 23.9% respectively in Shanghai. Community violence was the predominant violence type, affecting 72.8-93.7% across the sites. More than half of girls (53.7%) and 45.9% of boys had at least one adverse mental health outcome. Compared to those that did not report violence, boys exposed to PV had 11.4 higher odds of having a negative perception of health (95%CI adjusted OR = 2.45-53.2), whilst this figure was 2.58 times in girls (95%CI = 1.62-4.12). Among girls, PV was associated with suicidal thoughts (adjusted OR = 4.68; 95%CI = 2.29-9.54), posttraumatic stress (aOR = 4.53; 95%CI = 2.44-8.41) and depression (aOR = 2.65; 95%CI = 1.25-5.63). Among boys, an association was only detected between PV and depression (aOR = 1.82; 95%CI = 1.00-3.33). CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate that PV is common among both sexes in urban disadvantaged settings across the world, and that it is associated with poor mental health outcomes in girls, and with poor health status in both girls and boys. Clearly, prevention interventions are failing to address violence exposure across multiple contexts, but especially within community settings and in Johannesburg. Interventions are needed to identify adolescents exposed to PV and link them to care, with services targeting a range of mental health conditions among girls and perhaps focusing on depression among boys.

Physicians' and non-physicians' views about provision of medical abortion by nurses and AYUSH physicians in Maharashtra and Bihar, India.

There is only limited evidence on whether certified and uncertified health care providers in India support reforming the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act to expand the abortion provider base to allow trained nurses and AYUSH physicians (who are trained in Indian systems of medicine) to provide medical abortion. To explore their views, we conducted a survey of 1,200 physicians and other health care providers in Maharashtra and Bihar states and in-depth interviews with 34 of them who had used medical abortion in their practices. Findings indicate that obstetrician-gynaecologists and other allopathic physicians were less supportive than non-physicians of nurses and AYUSH physicians providing early medical abortion. The physicians did not think that these providers would be able to assess women's eligibility for medical abortion correctly. In contrast, the majority of non-physicians found task shifting of medical abortion provision to trained nurses and AYUSH physicians acceptable, and they were confident that these providers would be able to provide medical abortion as safely and effectively as trained physicians. Assuming the reforms are passed, efforts will need to be made by government and medical professional bodies to train these new providers to undertake this role, prepare the health infrastructure to include them, and create an environment, including among physicians, that is conducive to enabling non-physicians to provide medical abortion.

How adolescents perceive their communities: a qualitative study that explores the relationship between health and the physical environment.

BACKGROUND: The Well-Being of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments (WAVE) study was conducted among adolescents aged 15-19 years in Baltimore, Ibadan, Johannesburg, New Delhi, and Shanghai to examine perceived factors related to their health. A preliminary analysis of the data, unexpectedly, revealed that the influence of the physical environment on adolescent health was a dominant theme across every site examined. To explore this further, this paper analyzed the specific components of the physical environment that were perceived to influence health, and how they contributed to various health outcomes across sites. METHODS: Researchers in each site conducted in-depth interviews among adolescents; community mapping and focus groups among adolescents; a Photovoice methodology, in which adolescents were trained in photography and took photos of the meaning of 'health' in their communities; and key informant interviews among adults who work with young people. A total 529 participants from across the sites were included in the analysis. RESULTS: Findings showed that while there was surprising uniformity in how adolescents characterized their physical environment, perceived health outcomes related to the physical environment varied by site and gender. In Baltimore and Johannesburg, vacant homes and the lack of recreation facilities were perceived to impact on sexual and reproductive health problems for girls, while among boys they contributed to drugs and violence. In Shanghai, New Delhi, and Ibadan, garbage and trash observed in their communities were perceived to have a higher impact on infectious and chronic diseases. CONCLUSIONS: As the world continues to urbanize, our study points to a strong need to examine how the physical aspects of a living environment contribute to the health of adolescents. Specific aspects, such as housing, safety, garbage, and recreational spaces must all be examined as possible pathways for making improvements to health of adolescents, particularly among those living in poor urban environments.

Prevalence and Correlates of Vitamin D Deficiency Among Children and Adolescents From a Nationally Representative Survey in India.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) and its correlates among apparently healthy children and adolescents. METHODS: We carried out a secondary analysis of data of Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016-18 to analyze the pre-valence and predictors of VDD among Indian children and adolescents. RESULTS: The over-all prevalence of VDD in preschool children (1-4 years), school age (5-9 years) children, and adolescents (10-19 years) was 13.7%, 18.2%, and 23.9%, respectively. Age, living in urban area, and winter season were significantly associated with VDD. Vegetarian diet and high-income households were the main risk factors observed in 5-19 years age category. Female sex and less than three hour of physical activity/week were independent risk factors among adolescents. CONCLUSION: The prevalence and determinants of VDD across different age-groups are reported, and these should be interpreted and addressed to decrease the burden of VDD in India.

Challenges and measures to improve interviewers' bias in large-scale demographic surveys in India: Some suggestions based on analysis of NFHS-4 data.

With increasing demand for more data at local level, the health surveys have expanded both their coverage and areas of inquiry. To cater to this demand, the sample size in National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) increased significantly and thereby raised concerns regarding quality. The present paper attempts to investigate the presence of interviewers' bias in the birth history data in 4th round of NFHS in four states -Haryana, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The paper suggests a practical procedure that can be used to promote judicious supervision to minimize the non-sampling errors in future rounds of NFHS or other large-scale demographic surveys. Findings show that the outlier-based approach adopted in the paper helps in detecting the presence of interviewers' bias in the enumeration of total children ever born as well as those born during 5 years prior to the survey - two critical variables in demographic surveys. Among the four study states, the extent of the bias was highest in Tamil Nadu. In fact, in Haryana, the data was found to be free of any bias in the recording of the occurrence of births in 5 years preceding the survey. It is suggested that it should be feasible to employ the outlier-based approach early when fieldwork is in progress, along with usual practice of generating field check tables. This approach would have the potential to not only streamline the supervision but also help salvage the data from any biasing effects. The biasing effects, if any and found early during fieldwork can be rectified by suitably arranging the necessary revisits to the respondents.

Key drivers of fertility levels and differentials in India, at the national, state and population subgroup levels, 2015-2016: An application of Bongaarts' proximate determinants model.

OBJECTIVES: The transition to small family size is at an advanced phase in India, with a national TFR of 2.2 in 2015-16. This paper examines the roles of four key determinants of fertility-marriage, contraception, abortion and postpartum infecundability-for India, all 29 states and population subgroups. METHODS: Data from the most recent available national survey, the National Family Health Survey, conducted in 2015-16, were used. The Bongaarts proximate determinants model was used to quantify the roles of the four key factors that largely determine fertility. Methodological contributions of this analysis are: adaptations of the model to the Indian context; measurement of the role of abortion; and provision of estimates for sub-groups nationally and by state: age, education, residence, wealth status and caste. RESULTS: Nationally, marriage is the most important determinant of the reduction in fertility from the biological maximum, contributing 36%, followed by contraception and abortion, contributing 24% and 23% respectively, and post-partum infecundability contributed 16%. This national pattern of contributions characterizes most states and subgroups. Abortion makes a larger contribution than contraception among young women and better educated women. Findings suggest that sterility and infertility play a greater than average role in Southern states; marriage practices in some Northeastern states; and male migration for less-educated women. The absence of stronger relationships between the key proximate fertility determinants and geography or socio-economic status suggests that as family size declined, the role of these determinants is increasingly homogenous. CONCLUSIONS: Findings argue for improvements across all states and subgroups, in provision of contraceptive care and safe abortion services, given the importance of these mechanisms for implementing fertility preferences. In-depth studies are needed to identify policy and program needs that depend on the barriers and vulnerabilities that exist in specific areas and population groups.

Asset and consumption gradient of health estimates in India: Implications for survey and public health research.

The wealth index based on household assets and amenities is been increasingly used to explain economic variations of health outcomes in the developing countries. While the variables used to compute the wealth index are easy to collect and time- and cost-effective, the wealth index tends to have an urban bias, uses arbitrary weighting, does not provide per capita measures and is a poor measure of inequality. We used micro data from two of the large-scale population-based surveys, the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India, 2017-18 and the India Human Development Survey, 2011-12 that covered over 42,000 households each and collected data on household consumption, assets and amenities in India. We examined the variations and inequality in health estimates by consumption per capita and asset-based measures in India. Descriptive statistics, logistic regression model, concentration index, and concentration curve were used in the analyses. We found a weak association between monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) and wealth index in both the surveys. Some of the health conditions such as hypertension, cataract, refractive error, and diabetes tended to be underestimated in the bottom 40% of the population when economic well-being was measured using the wealth index compared to consumption. Socio-economic inequality in health outcome, inpatient and outpatient health services were underestimated when measured using the wealth index than when measured using MPCE. We conclude that economic gradients of health by consumption and wealth index are inconsistent and that per capita consumption predicts health estimates better than the wealth index. It is recommended that public health research using population-based surveys that provide data on consumption and wealth index use per capita consumption to explain economic variations in health and health care utilization. We also suggest that the future rounds of the health surveys of National Sample Survey and the National Family and Health Surveys include an abridged version of the consumption schedule to predict better economic variations in health and health care utilization in India.

Timing of first sex before marriage and its correlates: evidence from India.

While several studies have documented the extent of pre-marital sexual experience among young people in India, little work has been done to explore the factors that are correlated with the timing of pre-marital sexual initiation. This paper examines age at initiation of pre-marital sex, circumstances in which first sex was experienced, nature of first sexual experience and correlates of age at initiation of pre-marital sex. Life table estimates suggest that pre-marital sexual initiation occurred in adolescence for 1 in 20 young women and 1 in 10 young men. For the majority of these young people, their first sex was with an opposite-sex romantic partner. First sex, moreover, was unprotected for the majority and forced for sizeable proportion of young women. A number of individual, family-, peer- and community-level factors were correlated with age at first pre-marital sex. Moreover, considerable gender differences were apparent in the correlates of age at first pre-marital sex, with peer- and parent-level factors found more often to be significant for young women than men.

Mass media exposure and use of reversible modern contraceptives among married women in India: An analysis of the NFHS 2015-16 data.

Since the inception of the National Programme for Family Planning, messages on family planning (FP) have been promoted across India using different mass media platforms. Mass media plays an important role in disseminating important information among the masses, such as how reversible modern methods give women more reproductive choices than opting for permanent methods that limit their child-bearing capacity. Mass media can provide a continuous flow of information and motivation to deter women from discontinuing the methods they have opted for. However, very few studies have been conducted on this issue, especially using recently available data. This study particularly focuses on exposure to mass media and the use of reversible modern methods of family planning among married women in India. The data for this study was obtained from the National Family Health Survey (2015-16) on currently married women aged 15-49 years. The association of reversible modern method use with media exposure variables was examined, controlling for a set of independent variables from multiple levels-individual, district, state, and region. The findings from this study showed that television was the most important medium for disseminating information on FP among married women in India. Spatial analysis revealed that some districts in the north, parts of the northeast, and Kerala in South India lacked any television exposure. The results from the decomposition analysis showed that mass media exposure was associated with a 14% increase in the use of reversible modern methods. Results from the multilevel analyses showed that exposure to TV along with other media (AOR 1.57 95% CI 1.49-1.65) and exposure to FP messages through different media (AOR 1.22 95% CI 1.12-1.32) had a significant positive effect on the use of reversible modern methods even when various individual, district, state, and regional-level factors were controlled. The findings of this paper provide evidence supporting the use of mass media to promote and increase awareness of voluntary contraceptive use in India. An increase in mass media exposure coupled with improvement in coverage and services of the FP program can significantly increase the use of reversible modern methods in a cost-effective yet efficient manner among women in need of FP services.