Determinants of Abortions in Rural Ghana

Background:Hospital based studies conducted in most African countries have shown that abortion leads to about 50% of maternal deaths in Africa. Unless concerted effort is made to reduce abortion, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa can not achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 of reducing maternal mortality by half by the year 2015.
Objective:To describe the distribution of abortion (induced or spontaneous) and explore factors associated with abortion in rural Ghana.
Methods:This was a cross-sectional study with a sample of 5,359 females aged between 10-49 years of age. This sample was obtained from a Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) survey conducted within 156 communities of Kintampo Health and Demographic Surveillance area from July to November 2011. Socio-demographic and household assets data of the sample were obtained from the Kintampo Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KHDSS) database.
Results: In the multivariate regression analysis, increasing level of education and marital status were associated with abortion.
Conclusion:The findings suggest that abortion among women in the study area is influenced by education and marital status. Based on these findings, appropriate interventions could be designed to reduce the occurrence of abortions in the study setting.