Family planning use and associated factors among pastoralist community of afar region, eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundEthiopia is the second most populous country in Africa with a total fertility rate (TFR) of 4.8 children per a woman and contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) of 29 %. The overall prevalence of modern family planning in a pastoralist community, like Afar region, is low (9.1 %). This study aimed to assess family planning utilization and associated factors among married women of Afar region, Eastern Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 10-28, 2013 among 602 women. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Descriptive and multiple variable logistic regression analyses were done to isolate independent predictors on utilization of family planning using SPSS 20.ResultsThe overall prevalence of family planning utilization in Afar region was 8.5 % (6.2–10.7). Majority of the women (92.2 %) had used injectable. The most common reasons mentioned in the non-use of family planning methods were religion-related (85.3 %), desire to have more children (75.3 %), and husband's objection (70.1 %). Women who had a positive attitude towards family planning utilization (AOR = 4.7, 95 % CI: 2.1, 10.3), owning radio (AOR = 1.8, 95 % CI: 1.02, 4.18), and literate (AOR = 4.4, 95 % CI: 1.80, 11.08) were more likely to use family planning methods as compared to their counterparts. The increase of monthly income was also associated with the likelihood of family planning methods utilization. The odds of using family planning methods were higher among those with monthly income of $27–$55.5 (AOR = 2. 0, 95 % CI: 1.9, 4.7) and > $55 (AOR = 4. 6, 95 % CI: 1.23–17.19) as compared to women with the lowest category of monthly income ($27 and less).ConclusionThe low coverage of family planning in the region could be due to the influence of husband, religious and clan leader. Attitude of women towards family planning methods, possession of radio, monthly income, and educational status could influence family planning utilization.

Modern contraceptive utilization and associated factors among married pastoralist women in Bale eco-region, Bale Zone, South East Ethiopia

“…And this is in line with previous studies that reported a large number of couples who desired FP services was not receiving the service for a variety of reasons including religious oppositions, especially in the rural remote areas where the media is still not reaching and influencing mindset [4, 21, 23]. Therefore oppositions either due to religious beliefs, or concern of societal objection could be one of the major reasons for less use of modern contraceptive methods by pastoralist women in the Bale eco-region despite the women’s fertility desire.…”

“…Similarly, Polygyny has implications for coital frequency and, therefore, fertility. Both early marriage and polygynous union in the study area were more than the national rural levels of (16.5 years) mean age at first marriage and (12%) of polygynous union reported in the 2011 Ethiopian demographic and health survey [6], this also agree with findings from Afar regions, Ethiopia that revealed (95%) of early marriage by pastoralist women [21]. The women age at their first marriage was against the Ethiopian Revised Family Code Proclamation, which declares that the minimum age at first marriage is 18 for both sexes [22].…”

Use of Community-based Interventions to Promote Family Planning Use Among Pastoralist Women in Ethiopia: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

“…This illustrates male involvement is feasible and brings a remarkable change in the pastoralist context. It should be noted, married women in our study embedded in strong religious and cultural perspectives which favors a large family size, high husband objection for not practicing of FP and poor decision-making for FP use (9,10,26). Moreover, all aspects of the health and wellbeing of the pastoralist women strongly affected by religious perspective and belief -(18)-and the community believed that all health problems are caused by supernatural forces (38).…”

“…We developed a questionnaire for the purpose of this study and attached as Additional File 1. The developed tool was piloted in 10% of the sample after it was developed by reviewing different literature on the previous nding that aims to explore barriers and facilitators to Reproductive Maternal Neonatal Health (RMNH) services including FP (6,9,10,26). The collected piloted tool was exposed to a reliability test.…”

“…It should be noted that lack of awareness among women, religious rooted convictions, and norms against the use of FP and strong husbands' objection towards FP is likely to be the main cause of low FP use and large family size in the region. Hence, such kind of negative norms on FP overshadows women's decision making power in their families and limits their right to access the FP service (9,10).…”