Image for representation/Photo: Fertilityfamily.co.uk
KATHMANDU: The teenage fertility rate is high in Nepal.
According to the Child Welfare Division, the teenage fertility rate (age group 15-19) is 63%.
The Division’s Chief Community Nursing Administration, Kabita Aryal, said, “Nepal needs to reduce the fertility rate to 30% by 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. In Nepal, the adolescent fertility rate is high and data by province shows that Madhesh and Karnali provinces are ahead.
It is 61% in province 1 against 96% in Madhesh, 40% in Bagmati, 58% in Gandaki, 57% in Lumbini, 81% in Karnali and 60% in Sudurpaschim.
Teenage pregnancy poses a high risk of unnecessary health complications for pregnant women and increases the risk of maternal mortality rates.
According to Aryal, the risk of dying during a teenage pregnancy is twice as high as at 20-24 years old.
The existing total fertility rate in Nepal is 2.3 and it was 6.3 in 1976. The increase in the marriageable age, the use of contraceptive methods, the legalization of abortion and the separation of spouses are among the factors in the reduction of the fertility rate in the country.
She said unwanted pregnancies will increase with declining access and use of contraceptives, which will lead to an increase in the number of those having unsafe abortions, thereby increasing the health risk to women.
According to her, it is also necessary to increase the rate of use of modern contraceptive devices.
Forty-three percent of the population currently uses contraceptives in Nepal.
The government’s objective is to increase it to 60% by 2030.
Likewise, it is stated that the offspring and the mother will be healthier if the children are produced within a three-year interval.
Chief Nursing Administrator Aryal said the maternal mortality rate would be reduced by 30% and the infant mortality rate by 10% while giving birth to children within three years.
The number of people receiving permanent family planning is decreasing
The percentage of people receiving permanent family planning measures has decreased while the number of people using temporary family planning measures has increased over the past decade.
The percentage of men undergoing vasectomy surgery in 2006 was 6.4 and it dropped to 5.5 in 2016.
Similarly, the percentage of women undergoing laparoscopic surgery for permanent birth control in 2006 was 18 and this percentage decreased to 14.7 in 2016.
RSS