Determinants of child spacing among women in the reproductive age group a case study of Busoga and Teso regions

Abstract

Both short and long birth intervals have adverse impacts on maternal and child health. Despite all that, a number of births still occur at short birth intervals. The aim of this study was to establish the determinants of child spacing among women in the reproductive age group (15-49) years in Uganda. This study employed secondary methods of data collection. The data used was obtained from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey and emphasis of data collected was put on women in the reproductive ages (15-49). Data was analysed using statistical package STATA 15. From the data, frequency tables using actual tallies and percentages and association between the dependent and independent variables was tested using the Pearson’s Chi-square test. Ethical approval was sought from the Demographic health survey program before conducting the study. Study results indicate that the 41.5% of respondents practiced optimal birth spacing, 35.2% did short birth spacing and 23.3%. 51.9% of them were married, 91.9% of these respondent's resided in rural areas. More than half of the respondents (63.9%) had acquired primary education. Almost half of the respondents were poor (42.7%). 86.9% of the respondents were currently working, 66.8% of them said it was possible to get pregnant after birth and before period and 61.2 % of these women did not use contraception. Study findings revealed that age, marital status, husband's desire for more children, place of residence, education level, wealth index significantly influence child spacing with the measure of significance P ≤ 0.05. The study recommends education and sensitization of women on importance of child spacing, creation of employment opportunities for women and free accessibility to information especially to ANC services and contraceptives.