Less than one in 10 men use condoms in India, while nearly four in 10 women undergo sterilisation to avoid pregnancy, according to the latest National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021). The survey also shows that female sterilisation continues to be on the rise including in urban India. Recently, a survey conducted by Gurugram-based hygiene brand Pee Safe, also revealed that 57 per cent of Indians do not use any form of contraception, like condoms, which may lead to sexually transmitted diseases from unprotected sex.
Though condom use in urban India is better than rural parts, NFHS data proves that overall trend is vastly similar — 7.6 per cent men in rural India and 13.6 per cent men in urban India use condoms, while 38.7per cent women in rural India and 36.3 per cent in urban India underwent sterilisation. In 23 of the 36 States/UTs for which data were available, condom use was less than 10 percent. The State with the highest condom use was Uttarakhand (25.6 per cent) and the Union Territory Chandigarh (31.1 per cent). The silver lining, however, is that use of condoms has gone up between the two surveys — from 5.6 per cent to 9.5 per cent.
But the refusal to use condoms is not due to lack of awareness. Data shows that 82 per cent men were aware that consistent use of condoms can reduce the chance of getting HIV/AIDS. Studies, however, show that promotion of condoms for protection from HIV/AIDS creates confusion in their acceptance among married couples. “Condom usage is also low because family planning is considered the responsibility of women. For men, sex stands purely for pleasure. For women, it is often either about procreation, or involves the fear of getting pregnant. Men also believe that condoms reduce pleasure. According to NFHS-4 data, 40 per cent of men think it is a woman’s responsibility to avoid getting pregnant,” says Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India in an interaction with The Hindu. She further add, “A reason for high prevalence of female sterilisation is widespread misinformation on male sterilisation. Male sterilisation’s share in family planning methods has always been extremely low, despite the fact that it’s safer, quicker and easier. People believe that it can affect their virility and weaken them physically, rendering them unfit to work. These are myths and misconceptions that need to be addressed.”
Female sterilisation is also the preferred choice of contraception than other reversible methods such as pills (5.1 per cent), injectables (0.6 per cent) and intra-uterine devices (2.1 per cent).