Community Influences on Contraceptive Use in Mozambique

Fertility in sub-Saharan Africa remains the highest in world and the decline in birth rates in the region has slowed further over the past decade. Yet, the average contraceptive prevalence in Africa is the lowest in major world regions and there has been limited investigation of contextual influences on contraceptive use in the region. Using data from the 2003 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey, we estimate random intercept logistic regression models to examine the mechanisms through which community context influences women’s use of a modern method of contraception in Mozambique. We find that community context influences the use of modern methods of contraception by shaping the social and opportunity environment in which women live. In particular, we find that residing in a community with higher levels of female education, higher average age at first sexual intercourse, higher percentage of women who were told about family planning at health facility has a significant effect on a woman’s use of a modern method of contraception. We also find that living in a community where polygyny is common and where there is higher proportion of women who have not a final say on own visit to family or relatives has a significant negative effect.