KATHMANDU, NEPAL – Limbu, a 17-year-old student at British Gurkha College, began experiencing heavy vaginal bleeding just as classes began one morning in April.She rushed to a pharmacy near her school in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, with her friend Gurung, 18.The young women declined to publish their first names to avoid stigma for speaking openly about their sexual activities.The pharmacist told Limbu he was unable to help her and advised her to go to the nearby Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, she says.There, Limbu was treated for dehydration, given a blood transfusion to replace lost blood, and kept under observation for several hours, she says. The doctor told her the bleeding was most likely caused by her excessive use of the emergency contraception pill. Diagnosing her as anemic, the doctor also gave her iron supplements for free.
Limbu has not had a recurrence of bleeding or any other health complications since her treatment, she says.Limbu first had intercourse at age 15, she says. She has since had
many sexual partners and is currently having sex with three boys.Acting on the advice of friends, Limbu has used the morning-after pill, known in Nepal as the emergency contraception pill, as her sole form of birth control, she says.“It is almost three years since I started using emergency pills, as the boys do not like using the condom,” she says.Limbu prefers the emergency pill to birth control pills because she can take it at the pharmacy, she says. This enables her to keep her contraceptive use a secret from her family.Limbu takes the emergency pill after sex, three or four times a week, she says. Her friend Gurung is concerned about the health risks posed by taking the emergency pill so frequently. But young people in Nepal have no other viable options for contraception, she says.
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