Contraceptive use intentions and unmet need for family planning among reproductive-aged women in the Upper East Region of Ghana

Ayaga A Bawah,John Koku Awoonor-Williams,Patrick Asuming,James F Phillips,Edmund W Kanmiki,Sebastian F Achana

doi:10.1186/s12978-019-0693-x

Abstract

BackgroundMotivations for use of contraceptives vary across populations. While some women use contraceptives for birth spacing, others adopt contraception for stopping childbearing. As part of efforts to guide the policy framework to promote contraceptive utilization among women in Ghana, this paper examines the intentions for contraceptive use among reproductive-aged women in one of the most impoverished regions of Ghana.MethodsThis paper utilizes data collected in 2011 from seven districts in the Upper East Region of northern Ghana to examine whether women who reported the use of contraceptives did so for the purposes of stopping or spacing childbirth. A total of 5511 women were interviewed on various health and reproductive health related issues, including fertility and family planning behavior. Women were asked if they would like to have any more children (for those who already had children or those who were pregnant at the time of the survey).ResultsThe prevalence of contraceptive use was low at 13%, while unmet need is highly pervasive and demand for family planning is predominantly for spacing future childbearing rather than for the purpose of stopping. Overall, about 31.7%of women not using contraceptives reported a need for spacing while 17.6% expressed a need for limiting. Thus, the latent demand for family planning is dominated by preferences for space rather than limiting childbearing.ConclusionResults show that there is latent demand for family planning and therefore if family planning programs are appropriately implemented they can yield the desired impact.

Highlights

Contraceptive use interventions and unmet need for family planning are important determinants of fertility decline in both developed and developing countries. [1].It is often argued that for sustained fertility decline to occur, there must be a deliberate effort on the part of women to limit childbearing [1]
As part of efforts to guide the policy framework to promote contraceptive utilization among women in Ghana, this paper examines the intentions for contraceptive use among reproductive-aged women in one of the most impoverished regions of Ghana
A total of 5511 women were interviewed on various health and reproductive health related issues, including fertility and family planning behavior

Summary

Introduction

Contraceptive use interventions and unmet need for family planning are important determinants of fertility decline in both developed and developing countries. [1].It is often argued that for sustained fertility decline to occur, there must be a deliberate effort on the part of women to limit childbearing (parity-specific deliberate control) [1]. There is substantial evidence to show that while many women in sub-Saharan Africa sometimes report that they do not want to have any children at all or probably did not want to have them at a particular time that they did, they often do not use modern contraceptives methods to ensure that they achieve those desires. Such women are reported to have an unmet need for family planning [5,6,7]. As part of efforts to guide the policy framework to promote contraceptive utilization among women in Ghana, this paper examines the intentions for contraceptive use among reproductive-aged women in one of the most impoverished regions of Ghana

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion