Determinants of modern contraceptive use among women aged 15-49 in Bunyoro region
Abstract
Modern contraceptive use increased from 54 percent in 1990 to 57 percent in 2012 globally. However, statistics have shown low persistent rates for African. Uganda’s population is growing at a high rate of about 3 percent per year and has a TFR of 5.4 children per woman. This high fertility and population growth put the country’s population especially young girls and women at the risk of unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and associated high morbidity and mortality among others
The study used the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (2016 UDHS) dataset women’s file (UGIR) which was designed as a follow up to the 1988-89, 1995, 2000-01, 2006, and 2011 UDHS
The study sample comprised of 872 women and the majority (22.8%) were aged 20-24, 18.6 percent were aged 25-29 while only 6.4 percent were aged 45-49. Also, over 9 in 10 (93.0%) respondents, initiated sex before age 20. Only 7.0 percent had their first sex at age 20 or above. The study revealed that age of the respondent, marital status, children ever born, education level, wealth quintile and residence significantly varied with contraceptive use. On the other hand, modern contraceptive use did not vary by age at first sex, religion and exposure to media.
The study based the conclusions on bi-variate analysis and found out that higher use of modern contraceptives was highly associated with women aged 30-39, women who were in union, women who had 1-4 children, women who had at least secondary level of education, living higher wealth quintile households and residing in urban areas. Modern contraception increased with an increase in education. The study recommended the government to invest more in wealth creation projects to raise the household’s income and also putting much emphasis on education and SHR services.