Reproductive and Child Health Programmes in The Urban Slums of Bangalore City: A Study on Unmet Needs for Family Welfare Services

The Reproductive and Child Health Programme introduced in 1997 differs from the earlier family welfare programmes and it incorporates all the family welfare aspects in a broader and comprehensive manner. The study on unmet needs for family welfare services indicates the potential demand for family welfare services. The main objective of this paper is to understand the reproductive health programmes operating in Bangalore city slums, wherein there is highest prevalence of unmet needs for family welfare services. Data were collected through interviews. The unmet need for complete dosage of full MCH and Reproductive health ranged from 50 to 60 percent and there was an unmet need of 26.8 percent for family planning. This was found mostly among women till the age of 25 years who preferred largely spacing methods, which suggests that there is greater demand for unmet need for spacing methods in the slums.