A study on fertility perception: An experience from West Bengal,India

Background: fertility pattern has some influence on health of mother and child as well as it can resist population growth. methods: a cross sectional study on fertility perception among married women of reproductive age group,was carried out in 3 blocks and 2 municipality areas of howrah district of west bengal,india,covering 12 villages and 4 wards,selected by stratified multistage random sampling,for a period of 6 months from april to september 2009. two thousand married women were the respondents. results: respondents were mainly belonged to poor and below poverty line groups (86.7%),one third (33.4%) were illiterate and just literate group,66.8% of the respondents belonged to hindu by religion and 63.4% had history of teen age pregnancy and more than 50% of the respondents were married early (below 18 years). the study revealed that perception about age of marriage,interval between marriage and 1st pregnancy and spacing were incorrect in case of 45.8%,37.6% and 23% of the respondents,respectively. 22.3% and 13.1% of the respondents had no proper idea regarding desired no of children and family planning methods,respectively and their knowledge varied with literacy status,age and religion. majority (67.5%) of the study population received information about family planning methods from health personnel. conclusions: correct knowledge regarding different components of fertility among eligible couples to be enhanced by intervention through information,education and communication (interpersonal communication and mass media).