As long as (I think) my husband agrees…: role of perceived partner approval in contraceptive use among couples living in military camps in Kinshasa, DRC

Background Male partner’s approval is a key determinant of contraceptive use for women living in Sub-Saharan Africa and improving men’s support and couple communication is a cornerstone of family planning programs. However, approval is often only measured through the women’s perception of their partner’s opinion. Methods This study conducted in Kinshasa compares contraceptive approval variables from matched male and female partners (n = 252 couples) to establish the frequency of (in)accurate perceptions by the woman, then test their association with modern contraceptive use. Additional regressions estimate individual and couple variables associated with (in)correct perceptions. Results Results confirm women are poorly aware of their partner’s opinion but indicate that perceived approval or disapproval by the woman is a much stronger determinant of modern contraceptive use than her partner’s actual opinion. Higher educational achievement from the woman is the strongest driver of misunderstanding her partner’s approval. Conclusions Women’s perceptions of partner’s approval are much stronger determinant of contraceptive use than the latter’s actual opinion, and stereotyping men’s opinion of family planning is a common error of appreciation. However, findings also suggest these misunderstandings might serve women’s capacity to negotiate contraceptive use.

Factors Associated With the Utilisation and Unmet Need for Modern Contraceptives Among Urban Women in Kenya: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Family planning (FP) is a key intervention in improving maternal and child health. Hence, we assessed the factors associated with utilisation and unmet need for modern contraceptives among urban women in Kenya.Methods: The study used pooled data on 10,474 women 15–49 years from the seven rounds of the performance monitoring for accountability surveys collected between 2014 and 2018. The surveys were conducted in 11 of the 47 counties of Kenya using a multistage cluster design. Sample characteristics were described using frequencies and percentages while factors associated with utilisation and unmet need for modern contraceptives were assessed using multivariable logistic regressions.Results: The prevalence of modern contraceptives use and unmet need for FP among urban women in Kenya was 53.7% [95% confidence interval (CI) 52.1–55.3%] and 16.9% (15.8–18.1%), respectively. The use of modern contraceptive was associated with the county of residence, age, marital status, parity, education, household wealth quintile, exposure to media, and survey year. Teenagers, poorest urban women, women with no formal or primary level of education and those who seek services at a dispensary or health centres had higher odds of unmet need for FP while women who resided in Kitui and Nyamira counties had reduced odds of unmet need for FP. The odds of unmet need decreased with the survey year while that of modern contraceptive use had an inverse trend.Conclusion: Overall modern contraceptive use in urban areas is lower than the national average while the unmet need for FP is higher than national average, highlighting a potential urban-rural disparity in FP indicators in Kenya. Individual sociodemographic and socioeconomic and contextual factors are associated with the use of modern contraceptive and unmet need for FP among urban women in Kenya. Urban family planning policies and programmes in Kenya need to focus on strengthening urban healthcare systems to provide equal and accessible FP services, especially targeted towards teenagers and young women and those of low socioeconomic status.

Spatial distribution and factors associated with modern contraceptive use among women of reproductive age in Nigeria: A multilevel analysis

Background Evidence suggests that in countries with high fertility and fecundity rates, such as Nigeria, the promotion of modern contraceptive use prevents approximately 32% and 10% of maternal and child mortality, respectively. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the spatial distribution of modern contraceptive use and its predictors among women of reproductive age in Nigeria. Methods The study employed a cross-sectional analysis of population-based data involving 24,281 women of reproductive age in Nigeria. The study adopted both multilevel and spatial analyses to identify the predictors of modern contraceptive use and its spatial clustering among women in Nigeria. Results Modern contraceptive use among the study population in Nigeria ranged from 0% to 75%, with regional variations. The spatial analysis showed that areas with a low proportion of modern contraceptive use were Sokoto, Yobe, Borno, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Niger, Taraba and Delta. Areas with a high proportion of modern contraceptive use were Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Federal capital territory, Plateau, Adamawa, Imo, and Bayelsa. The multilevel analysis revealed that at the individual level, women with secondary/higher education, women from the Yoruba ethnic group, those who had four children and above, and those exposed to mass media had higher odds of using modern contraceptives. On the other hand, women who were 35 years and above, those who were married, and women who were practicing Islam were less likely to use modern contraceptives. At the household/community level, women from the richest households, those residing in communities with medium knowledge of modern contraceptive methods, and women residing in communities with a high literacy level were more likely to use modern contraceptives. Conclusion There were major variations in the use of modern contraception across various regions in Nigeria. As a result, areas with low contraceptive rates should be given the most deserving attention by promoting contraceptive education and use as well as considering significant factors at the individual and household/community levels.

Factors that Influence Modern Contraceptive use Among Women Aged 35 - 49 Years and their Male Partners in Gomoa West District, Ghana: A Qualitative Study

Background: The use of contraception among women aged 35 to 49 years is imperative due to the risk of unplanned pregnancy and poor obstetric outcomes. However, the use of contraceptives in this age group has been reported to be low. In Ghana, studies are limited that determine factors influencing contraception among women in this age group, in particular the influence of husbands. This study aims to ascertain factors that influence contraception among women aged 35 to 49 years and their male partners. Objectives: The objective of the study was to describe factors that influence modern contraceptive use among women aged 35 to 49 years and their male partners in the Gomoa West District of Ghana. Methods: A total of 44 informants participated in the study. In-depth interviews were conducted remotely for 22 women, 15 male partners of women interviewed, and seven family planning service providers. Twenty-one informants participated in four focus group discussions organized. A simple thematic analysis was undertaken. Results: Factors that influenced the use of modern contraceptives were achieved desired family size, counselling by health professionals, health reasons, and influence of male partner. Barriers to using modern contraceptives included religious or socio-cultural reasons, experience or fear of side effects, rumors or misconceptions, and the belief that contraceptive use is a matter for women. Conclusions: This study described factors that influence contraception among women 35 to 49 years and their male partners. All informants used some form of contraception, although traditional contraceptive method users (TCMUs) did not consider traditional contraceptive methods (TCMs) as a form of contraception. Education on effective TCMs as an alternative for non-users of modern contraceptive methods (MCMs) is needed. Strengthening male involvement in family planning and health educational activities could alleviate fear and reduce misconceptions about using modern contraceptives.

Individual and community-level factors associated with modern contraceptive use among adolescent girls and young women in Ethiopia: a multilevel analysis of 2016 Ethiopia demographic and health survey

Background The importance of contraception use is immense for young girls of age 15–24 years. In literatures, there were significant attempts made to study factors associated with adolescent and young women contraception use in Africa. Despite the resulting interventions followed those studies, the contraception uses among youth population in Africa remained below average. Thus, this study is aimed to assess individual and community-level factors associated with contraceptive use in Ethiopian context to support further interventions. Methods Our analysis was based on the secondary data from Ethiopia Demography and Health Survey (EDHS) 2016. Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15–24 years were the target population. Means, standard deviations, and proportions were used to describe the study population. To control for the variations due to the differences between clusters, a series of multilevel logistic regression modeling steps were followed and determinants of contraceptive use were outplayed. All variables with bivariate p-value < 0.25 were included in the models and p-value < 0.05 was used to declare associations. Results The prevalence of modern contraceptive use among AGYW in Ethiopia was 34.89% [95% CI, 0.32, 0.36]. Married adolescents were 2.01 times [AOR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.39,3.16], having work was 1.36 times [AOR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.06,1.71], living in urban areas was 1.61 times [AOR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.16,2.45], being in middle wealth status was 1.9 times [AOR = 1.90, 95% CI = 1.32,2.65], being in rich wealth quintile was 1.99 time [AOR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.35,2.68], and having TV exposure was 1.61 times [AOR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.17,2.20] more likely associated with modern contraceptive uses. Conclusion The use of modern contraception among AGYW in the country remained appealing and factors like region, residence, marital status, wealth index, religion, working status, parity, husband desire children, ever aborted AGYW, and the television exposures were attributed for the poor improvements. Therefore, the enhancements that consult those factors remained remarkable in improving contraception use, while further increasing in educational engagement, access to health services, and economic empowerment of the AGYW might be the good advantages for the improvements.

International Migration and Modern Contraceptive Use: A Research Note on African Migrants to France

This research note presents a multisited analysis of migration and contraceptive use by standardizing and integrating a sample of African migrants in France from six West and Central African countries in the Trajectoires et Origines survey with a sample of women living in the same six African countries in the Demographic and Health Surveys. Descriptive analyses indicate that the contraceptive use of migrants more closely aligns with that of native French women than with that of women from origin countries. In particular, migrants report dramatically higher use of long-acting reversible contraceptives and short-acting hormonal methods and lower use of traditional methods than do women in the countries of origin. Although migrants differ from women in the countries of origin on observed characteristics, including education and family background, reweighting women in the origin countries to resemble migrants on these characteristics does little to explain differences in contraceptive use between the groups. Given that contraceptive use is an important proximate determinant of fertility, our results suggest that contraceptive use should feature more prominently in the dominant demographic paradigms of migrant fertility.

The aggregate effect of implementation strength of family planning programs on modern contraceptive use at the health systems level in rural Malawi

To explore the association between the strength of implementation of family planning (FP) programs on the use of modern contraceptives. Specifically, how strongly these programs are being implemented across a health facility’s catchment area in Malawi and the odds of a woman in that catchment area is using modern contraceptives. This information can be used to assess whether the combined impact of multiple large-scale FP programs is leading to change in the health outcomes they aim to improve. We used data from the 2017 Implementation Strength Assessment (ISA) that quantified how much of family planning programs at the health facility and community health worker levels were being implemented across every district of Malawi. We used a summary measure developed in a previous study that employs quantitative methods to combine data across FP domains and health system levels. We tested the association of this summary measure for implementation strength with household data from the 2015 Malawi Demographic Health Survey (DHS). We found that areas with stronger implementation of FP programs had higher odds of women using modern contraceptives compared with areas with weaker implementation. The association of ISA with use of modern contraception was different by education, marital status, and geography. After controlling for these factors, we found that the adjusted odds of using a modern contraceptive was three times higher in catchment areas with high implementation strength compared to those with lower strength. Metrics that summarize how strongly FP programs are being implemented were used to show a statistically significantly positive relationship between increasing implementation strength and higher rates of modern contraceptive use. Decisionmakers at the various levels of health authority can use this type of summary measure to better understand the combined impact of their diverse FP programming and inform future programmatic and policy decisions. The findings also reinforce the idea that having a well-supported and supplied cadre of community health workers supplementing FP provision at the health facility can be an important health systems mechanism, especially in rural settings and to target youth populations.

ZIKV-Related Ideations and Modern Contraceptive Use: Cross-Sectional Evidence from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala

Zika virus (ZIKV) can be sexually transmitted and can lead to severe neonatal and child health issues. The current study examines whether ZIKV-related ideational factors, including awareness of ZIKV and associated birth defects, are related to modern contraceptive use among women and men with sexual partners in four Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. Data used are from cross-sectional household surveys conducted in 2018 in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras with representative samples of men and women aged 18–49 (N = 1,100). The association between self-reported use of modern contraception and measures of Zika knowledge, risk perceptions and social norms, and contraceptive self-efficacy was examined via sex disaggregated multivariate logistic regression models. Both men (OR 3.70, 95% CI 1.36–10.06, P < 0.05) and women (OR 3.71, 95% CI 2.30–5.99, P < 0.0001), who reported discussing family planning with their partner in the last year were more likely to use modern contraception compared with those who did not. Contrary to our hypothesis, knowledge that ZIKV can affect a fetus was negatively associated with modern contraceptive use for women (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.29–0.85, P < 0.05). Given the cross-sectional nature of the survey, women not using contraception may be more likely to remember that ZIKV can affect a fetus. In the event of a related outbreak, future health promotion and communication efforts in LAC should focus on known determinants of modern contraceptive use, such as knowledge and partner communication, and knowledge of the health effects of ZIKV if pregnant, to influence family planning decision-making behavior.