Abstract
Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the magnitude of unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion and to assess awareness towards emergency contraceptives (EC) among antenatal care attendees in Ethiopia.
Method: A cross sectional study was conducted from August 19th to September 30th 2011 among 310 antenatal care attendants (age of 15-49) that were selected by using simple random sampling technique. The data were entered and analyzed using SPSS for windows version 16.0.
Result: Among 310 respondents, 87 (28%) reported their pregnancy was unintended and 56 (18%) had ever practiced unsafe abortion one or more times. Only 105 (34%) of respondents had heard about EC and among those only 11.8% had used the method previously. A considerable proportion of respondents (59.1%) reported their fear on using EC due to safety misconceptions.
Conclusion: This study indicated unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion are very high due to lack of knowledge, practice and misconception towards EC among antenatal care (ANC) attending women. Therefore, it is necessary to promote emergency contraceptive awareness and use for ANC attendants with appropriate education methods.
Key words: Antenatal care attendees, unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, emergency contraception, Ethiopia
Method: A cross sectional study was conducted from August 19th to September 30th 2011 among 310 antenatal care attendants (age of 15-49) that were selected by using simple random sampling technique. The data were entered and analyzed using SPSS for windows version 16.0.
Result: Among 310 respondents, 87 (28%) reported their pregnancy was unintended and 56 (18%) had ever practiced unsafe abortion one or more times. Only 105 (34%) of respondents had heard about EC and among those only 11.8% had used the method previously. A considerable proportion of respondents (59.1%) reported their fear on using EC due to safety misconceptions.
Conclusion: This study indicated unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion are very high due to lack of knowledge, practice and misconception towards EC among antenatal care (ANC) attending women. Therefore, it is necessary to promote emergency contraceptive awareness and use for ANC attendants with appropriate education methods.
Key words: Antenatal care attendees, unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, emergency contraception, Ethiopia
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Event ID
17
Paper presenter
54 825
Type of Submissions
Regular session presentation, if not selected I agree to present my paper as a poster
Language of Presentation
English
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Weight in Programme
1 000
Status in Programme
1