Abstract
BackgroundUnwanted pregnancy is a significant public health problem worldwide. In higher education, students are exposed to the risk of unintended pregnancy, abortion, and its related negative consequences.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of emergency contraceptives and factors associated with its utilization among college female students at Debre Tabor Town, Northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional, institutional-based study was conducted from June to October 2017. A multi-stage stratified sampling technique was applied to select the study participants. Data were cleaned, coded, and entered into Epi info 7 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the association between the use of emergency contraception and the predictor variables. The P-value less than 0.05 at 95% CI was taken as statistical significance.ResultsA total of 821 respondents participated with a response rate of 97.6%. The finding showed that 33.3% of them have used emergency contraceptives following unprotected sex. Female students’ knowledge about emergency contraceptive [AOR: 2.3; 95% CI 1.20, 4.25], age with 20–24 years category [AOR: 2.3; 95% CI 1.21, 4.49] and married [AOR: 2.8; 95% CI 1.22, 6.21] and divorced [AOR: 4.9; 95% CI 1.12, 21.08] students were found to be significant predictors of EC utilization.ConclusionsThis study revealed that the level of emergency contraceptive utilization was low. Students’ level of knowledge about an emergency contraceptive, age at present, and marital status were found to be the major predictor for emergency contraceptive utilization. Therefore, responsible bodies should develop strategies that enhance the knowledge level of students at the college level on the effective utilization of emergency contraceptive methods.
Highlights
Unwanted pregnancy is a significant public health problem worldwide
Students are exposed to the risk of unintended pregnancy, abortion, and its related negative consequences
As it is difficult to determine the infertile time of the cycle with certainty; emergency contraceptive methods should be provided for any woman concerned about her risk of pregnancy regardless of the cycle and day of exposure; there are two types of emergency contraceptive methods: the emergency contraceptive pill and the intrauterine device (IUD) [3]
Summary
Unwanted pregnancy is a significant public health problem worldwide. In higher education, students are exposed to the risk of unintended pregnancy, abortion, and its related negative consequences. Whereas progesterone-only pills one pill should be taken as the first dose as soon as convenient, but not later than 3 days (72 h) after unprotected intercourse to be followed by another one pill 12 h later;Levonelle has to be taken within 72 h(3 days) of un protected sex to prevent pregnancy and ellaOne(containing ulipristal acetate) has to be taken within 120 h(5 days) of sex to prevent pregnancy and the copper bearing IUCD be inserted within 5 days of un protected sex when used as an emergency contraceptive method; it is more effective than the contraceptive pill in preventing pregnancy; less than 1% of women get pregnant. The sooner the methods are used, the more effective after the act of an intended intercourse [4]
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