Abstract
BackgroundMost of the unintended pregnancies that occur among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) end up in pregnancy termination. In this study, the socio-demographic determinants of pregnancy termination among AGYW (aged 15–24) in selected countries with high fertility rates in SSA were examined.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional analysis of data from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys of nine countries in SSA. The countries included are Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Uganda. A total of 62,747 AGYW constituted the sample size for the study. Fixed and random effects models were used to examine the determinants of pregnancy termination with statistical significance at p < 0.05.Results Higher odds of pregnancy termination were found among AGYW aged 20–24, those who were cohabiting and married, those who listened to radio and watched television at least once a week and those who lived in communities with high literacy level. Conversely, the odds of pregnancy termination were lower among AGYW with three or more births and those with secondary/higher education.ConclusionThe socio-demographic determinants of pregnancy termination among AGYW in this study were age, level of education, marital status, exposure to radio and television, parity, and community literacy level. The findings provide the needed information for designing health interventions to reduce unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions in countries with high fertility rates in SSA. It is recommended that governments and non-governmental organisations in these countries should enhance sexuality education and regular sensitization of adolescent sexual and reproductive health programmes targeted at AGYW who are at risk of pregnancy termination.
Highlights
Most of the unintended pregnancies that occur among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) end up in pregnancy termination
Pregnancy termination was frequent among Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) with poor wealth quintile (6.0%), those who never read newspaper/magazine (5.5%), those who listened to radio at least once a week (5.6%), those who never watched television (5.8%), and those with two births (9.9%)
With the community level factors, the modal categories for pregnancy termination were found among AGYW who lived in the rural areas (5.8%), those who lived in communities with low literacy level (6.2%), and those who lived in communities with low socio-economic status (5.9%)
Summary
Most of the unintended pregnancies that occur among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) end up in pregnancy termination. Ahinkorah BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2021) 21:598 need for contraception among this cohort of women [2, 6] This may explain the approximately 80 million mistimed and unplanned pregnancies, which occur in low-and middle-income countries, and constitute 40% of all pregnancies [7]. In SSA, previous studies on pregnancy termination among AGYW have identified socio-demographic factors such as age, ethnicity, parity, occupation, age at first sex, marital status, place of residence, and region as factors associated with pregnancy termination among AGYW [8,9,10] These studies were done in countries with lower fertility rates compared to countries, which have higher fertility rates [11].
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