There are many impediments to family planning uptake by migrant women, which are likely to hinder their right to decide and use contraception. In this study, the authors investigated migrant women’s family planning practices. The researchers conducted 22 qualitative interviews with migrant female head porters in a suburban community in Ghana. Our analysis showed that a combination of social and cultural barriers impede effective family planning uptake by migrant female head porters. Further analysis revealed institutional challenges as constraining in access to and utilization of family planning services by migrant female head porters. Based on our analysis, we conclude that migrant female head porters face many barriers to family planning uptake and thus recommend that the government of Ghana (Ministry of Health), policy makers, and other stakeholders take measures to ensure universal access to sexual reproductive health services and reproductive rights.
Background: The literature posits that HIV knowledge is associated with precautious sexual behaviour and practice. We hypothesised and investigated the association between knowledge of HIV transmission and adolescent pregnancy in Ghana, given that the relationship between HIV knowledge and adolescent pregnancy has not been extensively studied. Methods: We did analyses on 5836 cases (weighted as 5121) of 15-24 years old reproductive age women in the female dataset of the 2017 Multiple Cluster Indicator Survey. Adolescent pregnancy was operationalized as reproductive age women between 15-24 years who became pregnant before the age of 18 years. Accurate HIV knowledge was measured by computing the scores of correct responses on six questions exploring women's knowledge about HIV transmission. We accounted for sample design and weight before performing a Chi-square test of independence and Poisson regression. Results: The results indicate that having lower scores on the HIV transmission knowledge scale was correlated with a higher probability of girls becoming pregnant before their 18 th birthday. After controlling for the moderating effect of socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, we found that accurate HIV transmission knowledge loses its statistical significance in determining adolescent pregnancy. The factors that remain significant in the adjusted model were formal education status, household wealth, and region of residence. HIV transmission knowledge was statistically significantly related to adolescent pregnancy in the model after the education level variable was omitted. This observation was due to the significant effect of school education on other variables in the model. This result demonstrates that HIV knowledge has a major impact on adolescent pregnancy, but this effect is predicated by formal education attainment of the adolescent girl. Conclusions: Given the results, adolescent pregnancy issues can be resolved by the government and other development partners by adequately educating adolescents about HIV transmissions. Also, because they have the potential to reduce pregnancy among adolescents in Ghana, we recommend that programs and initiatives should address existing disparities in formal educational attainment and household wealth.
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