Demand for long acting family planning methods

Unintended pregnancy is a major problem among sexually active women in Sub Saharan Africa and occurs due to a number of reasons, such as inconsistent use of short term contraceptive methods or non-use of modern contraception. Recent scientific findings indicate that long acting reversible contraceptive methods (IUD, Norplant and Injectables), which are cost effective and highly effective in pregnancy prevention, are a possible solution to the problem of unintended pregnancy. To promote use of these methods and ultimately reduce unintended pregnancy, it is important to identify factors that are associated with the use of long acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods.
Data used in the study were derived from the 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey. Binomial logistic regression modelling and multinomial logistic regression were used to identify factors associated with LARC method use among sexually active women aged 15-49 years in Malawi.
The results show that LARC use decreases with age. Young women (15-24) are more likely to use LARC methods than older women (35+). However, LARC use increases with an increase in the number of living children. Being married, with a secondary or higher and staying in urban areas increased the likelihood of using LARC methods. The implications of the results are discussed.

It is estimated that 25 percent of women and couples in SSA who want to space or limit their births are not using any form of contraception. Unintended pregnancies also continue to be a burden in many countries especially in SSA. Despite long-acting and permanent contraceptive Methods(LAPM) being essential for preventing unintended pregnancies, their use has not kept pace with that of short-acting contraceptive methods. In many countries in the SSA region, fewer than five percent of women LAPM. The study aims to find the prevalence of LAPM use compared to those of short-acting methods. Specifically it will identify the socio-demographic factors that determine the use of LAPMs and find out the association between fertility preference and use of LAPMs. The study uses data from the 2008 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey where a total of 8,444 women of reproductive age were interviewed. Results confirm that the use of LAPMs in Kenya is significantly lower than that of SAMs. A discrepancy also exists between the proportion of women who wish to stop having children and the proportion who are using an LAPM. This therefore calls for amplified efforts to increase provision of LAPMs, as providing women and couples access to a range of contraceptive choices protects their human rights and benefits public health.

This paper examines the impact of Population Services International (PSI) led intervention on IUD use among married women. The study was conducted on randomly selected 6560 women from three northern states of India. The analyses suggest that around 43% of currently married women in the age group of 15-49 years were currently using at least one method for family planning. The IUD use among women was 5.4% in the selected states. A careful exploration of data suggests that IUD use was more among women with more than 30 years of age. It was also seen that 73% of the women who had two or more children of either sex, reported more use of IUD. Women who belonged to high Standard of Living (SLI) reported more use of IUD than others. Women who were exposed to intervention also reported more use of IUD. For example, 10.3 % of the women who were exposed to Inter Personal Communicators (IPC) activities reported using IUD compared to only 5.2% of those not exposed to IPC activities. The multivariate analysis also suggests that the perceived availability of IUD and exposure to any IPC activity had significantly higher odds of using IUD among women.

The aim of this paper is to study the demand for long-acting and permanent contraceptive methods (LAPCMs), and its determinants among Kurdish women in Mahabad city, Iran. Data are taken from Mahabad Fertility Survey (MFS) conducted on a sample of over 700 households in April 2012. The results show that the demand for LAPCMs was 71.3 percent at the time of survey, although only 27.7 percent of women used these methods. Thus, the number of unintended pregnancies is likely to increase in the future if this gap does not reduce. The multivariate analysis shows significant impacts on the dependent variable of the number of children ever born, the perceived contraceptive costs, and childbearing intentions. Moreover, women at the end of reproductive ages and those with higher education are more likely to desire LAPCMs. The paper concludes that despite a growing use of contraceptive methods in recent decades, the need to develop reproductive health services, and promote the quality of family planning services remains an inevitable necessity.

This paper examines women’s experiences of using injectable contraception (IC) from the perspectives of women and health care providers, and sheds light on the feasibility and acceptability of making IC widely available in India. The study was undertaken in 27 selected facilities of 4 NGOs in 5 states. Using a retrospective study design, 375 married women were interviewed who had initiated IC use in 12-21 months before the interview. In-depth interviews were conducted among 16 health care providers. Findings, based on lifetable analysis, indicate that just 23% of the women continued to use ICs at 12 months. Reasons for discontinuation centred on the side-effects experienced, largely menstrual disturbances. Counselling was not comprehensive for most women. Multivariate analysis suggests that women who had continued using ICs for at least 12 months tended to be younger, educated and multiparous. Notably, continuation rates were also higher among women who had experienced fewer side-effects and were provided good quality of care. In-depth interviews with health care providers corroborated many of these findings. Findings suggest that although continuation rates are low, a considerable proportion of women find IC an acceptable method. With appropriate counselling, it is possible to offer this method more widely in the RCH programme.