According to the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2014 and the Urban Health Survey 2010, the use of modern method is higher at urban slums than the national figure. However, the use of Long Acting and Permanent Methods (LAPM) are low among the urban slum people than other areas. The use of LAPM in the last 10 years remained almost stagnant and increased only from 7.2% to 8.1%. On the other hand, majority of the women complete their family size at an early age and continue to rely on temporary methods for the rest of their reproductive life cycle, which is causing unintended pregnancies in many cases.
SMC operated a BCC related pilot program in 2016 using own resources at Korail Slum in the capital Dhaka with an aim to increase knowledge and use of LAPM on a pilot basis. The result of this pilot initiative was quite satisfactory and therefore, the SMC Board decided to expand this initiative in untapped area of Korail Slum and Sattola Slum, which started from January 2018. A total of seven community level workers are engaged to conduct interpersonal communication through household visit and refer clients for long term and permanent methods to the nearest GOB and NGO service delivery points. The campaign will continue until December 2018. The effects of this intervention will be done through an endline evaluation.
