Unmet Need for Modern Contraceptive Methods and Associated Factors Among Currently Married Women in Damot Woyde District, SNNPR, Ethiopia, 2019.

Background: The ability of individuals and couples to anticipate and achieve their desired number of children as well as the spacing and timing of their birth is family planning. Access to family planning and ensuring that needs are met is based on human rights. Nonetheless, for most women, this need has not been met. In addition, in this study field, there was minimal evidence regarding this. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of unmet need of modern contraceptive methods among currently married women in Damot Woyde district, southern Ethiopia.

Methods: This community based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 20 to 28, 2019. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 658 currently married women of child-bearing age in the study areas. A pretested interviewer administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the predictors of dependent variables and the adjusted odds ratios with its 95% confidence interval was used to report the level of association. Variables with a P-value<0.05 were considered as statistically significant.

Results: The total unmet need for modern contraceptive methods was 169 (26.3%; 95% CI= 22.9-29.7%) among currently married women for the study participants. In multiple logistic regression analysis, educational status (AOR=4.3; 95% CI=1.1-14.7), women with five or more, and three-to-four children(AOR=4.3; 95% CI=1.4-13.1 and AOR=2.8; 95% CI=1.1-7.8, respectively), little perceived risk of pregnancy due to infrequent sexual intercourse (AOR=2.2; 95% CI=1.3-3.8), and little perceived risk of pregnancy due to breast feeding (AOR=2.3; 95% CI=1.3-4.10) were factors associated with the unmet need of modern contraceptive methods.

Conclusion and recommendation: This study revealed that unmet need for modern contraceptive methods was found to be high compared to the national and regional figures. Therefore, community health workers and health professionals should be strengthening communication and discussion at grass root level in order to promote the right time for using family planning. District health office and other concerned bodies should collaborate with the education office to expand formal and non-formal education for women in order to decrease the unmet need for modern contraceptive methods.