A field study of Depo-Provera: its use as a contraceptive method by women in a rural town in West Malaysia from February 1968 to December 1969

PIP: To determine the acceptability, practicability, and popularity of Depo-Provera as an additional contraceptive method to be offered by the National Family Planning Board NFPB of Malaysia, 550 patients of Sungai Besar, Malaysia, who accepted the Depo-Provera injection method from the start of the injection program, February 23, 1968, until the cutoff date of December 31, 1969, were studied. At the cutoff date, 318 (58%) were still receiving regular injections at 3-month intervals. The remaining 232 women discontinued use of the injection. Of those who discontinued use, 176 (32%) were interviewed, while the other 56 women were lost to follow-up, due mainly to migration. Assuming that 1 injection would protect a woman from getting pregnant for a 3-month period, the retention rates at the end of 12 and 24 months were 63% and 41%. These continuation rates were fairly high and were as good as those for the oral pill, which is the main contraceptive method provided since the beginning of the operational service program of the NFPB in May 1967. Except for a small number of Indian women with a high rate of discontinuation there was not much difference in continuing the method between the Malays (60%) and the Chinese (56%). The younger age group of women seemed to have a higher proportion of discontinuation. The findings showed that amenorrhea (35%)most bothered the women who discontinued the injection method. Irregular bleeding (20%) and other medical side effects (11%) were the other main complaints that caused women to discontinue using the injection as a contraceptive method. It was concluded that Depo-Provera (150 mg) injected once every 3 months appears to be simple, acceptable, popular, and effective as a contraceptive method among women in a rural town in Malaysia.