Knowledge of and Utilization of Emergency Contraceptive and Its Associated Factors among Women Seeking Induced Abortion in Public Hospitals, Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia, 2017: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background In developing countries, most maternal deaths are related to the lack of accessibility and availability of reproductive health services. In those nations, emergency contraceptive pills are the most commonly used family planning methods to prevent unintended pregnancy. However, women do not use this family planning method for different reasons. Consequently, women expose to unsafe abortion which results in maternal morbidity and mortality. Objective To assess the knowledge of and utilization of emergency contraceptive and its associated factors among women seeking induced abortion in public hospitals, Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia, 2017. Methods Hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 380 women, who came for safe termination of pregnancy from April to July 2017. Systematic random sampling technique was used. Pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect data through interview. Data were entered using Epi Info version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Data were presented using descriptive statistics. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was carried out to see if there was significant association between variables at P < 0.05 and 95% confidence interval (CI). Result Out of the total 369 respondents, 149 (40.4%) had the knowledge about emergency contraceptive pills. The magnitude of utilization of emergency contraceptive among respondents was found to be 45 (12.2%). Protestant in religion (AOR = 60.85, CI (5.34–693.29)), previous utilization of any contraceptive method (AOR = 0.13, CI (0.05–0.36)), and women who were not knowledgeable about emergency contraceptive (AOR = 0.030, CI (0.006–0.14)) were significantly associated with the utilization of emergency contraceptive. Conclusion Most of the women were not knowledgeable about emergency contraceptive and utilization of emergency contraceptive was also very low. In conclusion, religion, knowledge, and previous utilization of emergency contraceptive were associated with the utilization of emergency contraceptive.

Information and Perception towards Emergency Contraception among Female Adolescent Students in Secondary School of Kathmandu District

“…It offers women a last chance to prevent pregnancy and should not be used as a regular family planning method but should be used only in emergency time. It has the advantage of preventing unintended pregnancy and prevents induced abortion after unprotected sexual intercourse but the majority of the female was not knowledgeable about emergency contraceptive pills (Abraha et al 2019). Addressing adolescent pregnancy is Important for achieving the national health care plan of developing countries like Nepal.…”

Utilisation of Emergency Contraception Among Final Year University Female Students

“…According to additional studies, using emergency contraception can dramatically lower the number of abortion-related morbidity and mortality (Abraha et al, 2019;Ajayi et al, 2016).…”

“…According to research, unplanned pregnancies among unmarried adolescents are more likely to result in induced abortion (Morris & Rushwan, 2015). Although emergency contraception is an excellent means of preventing unintended pregnancies, it is often underused (Abraha et al, 2019;Haeger et al, 2018). In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, access to conventional contraceptive techniques is relatively limited; the continent's average contraceptive prevalence is around 27%.…”

Induced Abortion and Its Predictors Among Hawassa University Female Students

“…Women usually under-report their abortion experiences, mainly because abortion is a sensitive and controversial issue with religious, moral, cultural, political and scopes other reasons in many countries across the world [2][3][4][5]. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one woman dies every eight minutes due to unsafe abortions; consequently around five million women who undergo unsafe abortions require hospitalization [6][7][8].…”

“…Unsafe abortion is a significant but preventable cause of global maternal mortality and morbidity [14]. Utilization of family planning is very crucial to decrease unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion which in turn reduces maternal morbidity and mortality [7,8,15]. However, there is limited understanding over the counseling needs of women accessing abortion services, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa [16].…”