Assessment of the Magnitude and Associated Factors of Unmet Need for Family Planning among Women of Reproductive Age Group with Disabilities in Bahir Dar City, Amhara Region, North West Ethiopia

Abel Lule Tessema,Mekionnen Ayichiluhm Bishaw,Tsion Samuel Bunare

doi:10.4236/ojepi.2015.51007

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the magnitude and associated factors of unmet need for family planning among women of reproductive age group with disabilities who are members of disabled associations in Bahir Dar town. Institution based cross-sectional study was carried out. A total of 337 women of reproductive age group with disabilities were included in the study with simple random sampling. Data were collected through face-to-face interview, coded, cleaned and entered by Epi info 2002 and analyzed with SPSS version 16 computer software. Logistic regression was used to assess possible associations. The magnitude of unmet need for family planning among women with disabilities was 24.3%. Women with disabilities in the age group of 25-29 had 80% less likely to have unmet need than women above 35 years old. Women with disability who have no education were 11 times more likely to have unmet need than those who have secondary education. Women who desire to have more than 3 children have more likely to have unmet need than those who need to have 1-2 children. Unmet need for family planning among women with disabilities was high in Bahir Dar town. Age, Educational status and desired number of children were found to have statistically significant association with unmet need for family planning. Hence, it is important to encourage people with disabilities to attained formal education and the associations should provide short term trainings in accordance with their age group.

Highlights

The concept of unmet need for family planning refers to fecund women who either wish to postpone the birth or who wish to stop child bearing but are not using a contraceptive method [1]
Institution based cross section study was conducted to assess the prevalence of unmet need for family planning and associated factors among disabled women who are members of disabled associations in Bahir Dar town
This study revealed that unmet need is high among women who are 35 year and above which is about 67.5%

Summary

Introduction

The concept of unmet need for family planning refers to fecund women who either wish to postpone the birth (spacers) or who wish to stop child bearing (limiters) but are not using a contraceptive method [1]. It is estimated that more than 100 million women in low income countries or about 17% of all married women, would prefer to avoid pregnancy but are not using any form of family planning [2]. Within the low income regions of the world, about one-fourth of all pregnancies are unintended while an estimated 18 million unsafe abortions take place each year, thereby, contributing to the high maternal mortality and injuries [3]. Women make up three-quarters of the disabled people in low and middle income countries, and between 65 and 70 percent of those women live in rural areas. Women with disabilities comprise 10 percent of all women worldwide [4]

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion