Trend and correlates of contraceptive use in rural and urban Ethiopia: is there a link to the health extension programme?
population health
27
Issue: 2
(10 - 2013)
When international funders shifted funding priorities from family planning to HIV/AIDS in the mid-
1990s, most family planning programmes in Africa faced serious challenges. The government of
Ethiopia took a creative route of establishing the Health Extension Programme (HEP) in 2004 that
provides health care services including family planning and integrated population issues into the
school curricula besides promulgating contraceptive use as a right for all women of reproductive age.
This study aims at analysing the correlates of contraceptive use in rural and urban Ethiopia using
the Demographic and Health Survey data of 2000, 2005 and 2011. Data were analysed using tab-
ular and graphical methods, and a binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors
associated with contraceptive use. Findings of the study reveal that contraceptive uptake, particu-
larly injectable, has increased markedly in the rural areas as a result of the implementation of the
HEP despite regional variations in the level of commitment to the family planning package. Other
African countries need to emulate such an initiative, but ensuring equal commitment throughout
the nation to overcome any possible outrages.
Keywords: Contraceptive use, health extension programme, family planning, rural women, Ethiopia,
sub-Saharan Africa
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