Identifying the Unmet Need of Contraception Among Hiv Seropositive Women Attending Antiretroviral Treatment (Art) Clinic in Tertiary Care Centre

Abstract

BACKGROUND Contraceptive use among HIV positive women plays a crucial role in meeting their reproductive health needs. This is a study with the primary aim to estimate the magnitude of unmet need for family planning among HIV seropositive women of reproductive age in central India and to identify the various socio-demographic factors and reasons associated with unmet need for family planning. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study is an institutional cross-sectional study. The unmet need of 400 women with HIV positive status in reproductive age group (15-49 years) attending Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) clinic in a tertiary care center in central India was evaluated on the basis of their age, living region, type & size of family, education, duration of marriage, occupation, religion and by Modified BG Prasad sociodemographic class. The use of contraceptives and the reasons for not using any temporary or permanent method of family planning was evaluated. RESULTS The prevalence of unmet need of contraception in study population was found to be 28%. There is a significant association between age, education, socioeconomic status, type of family, duration of marriage, parity and HIV status of partner, duration of antiretroviral treatment with met and unmet needs of contraception. Little perceived risk of pregnancy was the most common reason for not willing to use contraception. Opposition from partner or family members, cultural & religious opposition (13%) also constitutes the major causes of not using contraception. Lack of awareness (1.8%) was the least common cause for reasons for not using contraception. CONCLUSION Efforts to integrate the family planning services and HIV care services, strengthening the traditional family programmes and expanding the access of contraception are prerequisites to reduce unmet needs.

Unmet need for family planning and associated factors among married women attending anti-retroviral treatment clinics in Dire Dawa City, Eastern Ethiopia

“…Place of residence, educational status of the respondent, knowledge about FP, attitude toward FP, client satisfaction with FP service, women decision making power, and FP counseling service in ART clinics were the independent predictors of unmet need for FP among married women attending ART clinics. This research found that unmet need for FP (33%) to be consistent with the previous study in Addis Ababa, where the unmet need for FP among HIV-positive women was 31.1% [27], and in India, where 28.% of ART attending women had an unmet need for FP [8]. However, the result in this study is higher than the study in Ethiopia, as was the study in Hawassa (19.1%) [15] and Addis Ababa (25.1%) [14].…”

“…Women live in a rural area was significantly associated with unmet need for FP. This result in line with other studies in Tigray [29], Nigeria [30], and India [8]. The possible explanation might be even if FP knowledge was even distributed in all residential areas, women living in rural areas were less exposed to messaging regarding FP [31].…”

“…Studies done among HIV positive women in different countries documented that there are high unmet needs for FP. For instance, in India (28%) [8], Gabon (28.7%), Ghana (27.8%), Uganda (45.1%), Nigeria (49%), and South Africa (28%) [9][10][11][12][13]. In Ethiopia, also different attempts were done to quantify the magnitude of unmet need among HIV-positive women; such as in Addis Ababa (25.1%), Hawassa (19.1%), and South Gondar (24.6%) [14][15][16].…”

Trends and predictors of unmet need for family planning among women living with HIV in Zambia: implications for elimination of vertical transmission of HIV

“…Similar to our findings, studies in Tigray [ 36 ] and Dire Dawa [ 38 ] in Ethiopia, Nigeria [ 34 ] and India [ 41 ] found that women living with HIV residing in rural areas were more likely to have unmet need for family planning than their counterparts from the urban areas. The probable explanation for this phenomenon is that women in rural areas have lower exposure to information and limited access to sexual and reproductive health services than their urban counterparts, as reported in surveys in Zambia and elsewhere [ 30 , 34 ].…”

Trends and predictors of unmet need for family planning among women living with HIV in Zambia: implications for elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV

“…Evidently, similar to our findings, studies in Tigray (32) and Dire Dawa (33) in Ethiopia, Nigeria and India (35) found that women living with HIV residing in rural areas were more likely to have unmet need for family planning than their counterparts from the urban areas. The probable explanation for this phenomenon is that women in rural areas have lower exposure to information and limited access to sexual and reproductive health services than their urban counterparts, as reported in surveys in Zambia and elsewhere (30, 31).…”