ABSTRACT
Asia accounts for around 60 per cent of global population. Advocating contraceptive use is crucial to slow down its population growth and reduce risks of unintended pregnancy and induced abortion. In this chapter, we review contraceptive use in Asia in terms of contraceptive prevalence and trends, the relationship between contraceptive prevalence and fertility level, patterns of method use, unmet need for contraception and determinants of contraceptive use. We also summarize abortion policies in Asia; we describe safe and unsafe abortion practices and techniques for safe abortion and post-abortion care; and we analyse the relationship between abortion rate and contraceptive use. The results of this chapter indicate that, although Asia as a whole is currently in a transition from high to low fertility, the desire for smaller families continues to outpace the availability and use of contraception. Improvement of contraceptive and abortion services is urgent, particularly in South-Central Asia and South-Eastern Asia.
