Knowledgeattitude and practice regarding vasectomy among married men in a rural area.

Vasectomy is one of the safest and most effective family planning methods and is one of the few contraceptive options available for men. Vasectomy is one of the least used contraceptive methods in the developing world including India. Objective was to determine knowledge attitude and practice regarding vasectomy as a family planning method among married men in a rural setting. A community based cross-sectional study was carried out among married men in rural field practice area of Department of Community Medicine Osmania Medical College Hyderabad. 400 married men below 60 years of age were inteiviewed using a pre-designed pre-tested Schedule. Statistical analysis: Data were entered using MS-Excel 2007 & analyzed using EPI INFO version 7. Awareness regarding vasectomy was present in majority (78%) of the respondents but acceptance of vasectomy was only 3.2%. Most common reason for not accepting vasectomy were fear of surgical procedure (37% followed by fear of weakness (29%) fear of impact on sexual performance (26%) and lack of information (24%). There is an imperative need to launch a client-centered IEC campaign with emphasis on family couple and individual counselling on all aspects of vasectomy.