Unintended pregnancy among married women in Damot Gale District, Southern Ethiopia: Examining the prevalence and risk factors
Maternal and child health
26
Issue: 1
(04 - 2012)
The main objective of this study is to examine the prevalence and risk factors for
unintended pregnancies among selected married women in Damot Gale Woreda
(a district in Southern Ethiopia). A multistage sampling technique was used to
select women respondents in the reproductive age group of 15-49 years. Quanti-
tative and qualitative data were obtained using structured questionnaires, focus
group discussion and key informants interview. The dependent variable is unin-
tended pregnancy. Demographic, socio-cultural and service related characteristics
were used as explanatory variables. Of 713 women surveyed, 302(42.4 %)
reported that their most recent pregnancies were unintended. Most of the
women (89%) knew at least one modern Family Planning (FP) methods. Further,
we found that 84% of the women have never discussed FP with husbands, and
80% of women have never been visited by health workers. Major reasons men-
tioned for failure to avoid unintended pregnancy were lack of knowledge, disap-
proval by husband, difficulty to get method and method failure. The predicted
probability, using logistic regression, has shown that women with delayed age at
marriage, with lower parity, women exposed to radio, women who discus about FP
issues with husband; those who have autonomy on their health care and those
visited by FP workers are less exposed to unintended pregnancy. Finally, based on
the key findings, some workable recommendations are given which includes: sus-
tainable behavioral changes among community members, reforms in disseminat-
ing family planning and related information, enhancing women’s status at all
levels through formal and non-formal education, strengthening the follow up sys-
tem on FP workers and beneficiaries, improving inter- spousal communication
through peer or informal education and community level orientation.
Keywords: Unwanted pregnancy, contraception, determinants, Southern
Ethiopia, Damot Gale
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