Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare said that “India has achieved replacement level fertility with as many as 31 states/ UTs having achieved a Total Fertility Rate of 2.1 or less and modern contraceptive usagehas increased substantially to 56.5% (NFHS 5). She also stated that “NFHS-5 data shows an overall positive shift towards spacing methods which would be instrumental in impacting positively the maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.”
Presiding over the National Family Planning Summit, 2022 in New Delhi, she said India understood the importance of Family Planning early and went on to be the first country to launch a National Family Planning programme in 1952.
She emphasized that Mission Parivar Vikas (MPV) 2016 has given further impetus to the National Family Planning Program. Under the scheme, innovative strategies like distribution of Nayi Pehel kits, Saas Bahu Sammelan and Saarthi vans are helping to reach out to community and initiate dialogues on Family Planning, healthy birth spacing and importance of small families.
“More than 17 lakh Nayi Pehel kits have been distributed to newly-weds, over 7 lakh Saas bahu sammelans conducted, and over 32 lakh clients have been counselled through Saarthi vans since inception. It is due to these efforts that NFHS-5 data shows a substantial increase in modern contraceptive use and decrease in unmet need in all the MPV states”, she added.
The Minister highlighted that India is an important member of the FP2020, now transitioned to FP2030 partnership. She informed that as part of India’s commitment to this partnership, 3 billion USD has been invested in family planning. She further stated that “between 2012 and 2020, India added more than 1.5 crore additional users for modern contraceptives thereby increasing the modern contraceptive use substantially”.
During the event, the Minister also unveiled the India Family Planning 2030 vision document and launchedthe Medical Eligibility Criteria (MEC) Wheel Application, E-Module of Family Planning Logistics Management System (FPLMIS) and Digital Archive on Family Planning under the category of Digital Intervention.
To empower the community and show the Government’s unwavering commitment to providing inclusive services, Dr Pawar also introduced the National Family Planning helpline manual, Community Health Officer (CHO) booklet, and ASHA brochure and leaflet (Family Planning).
