Research Article
Workineh Gizaw, Gossa Fetene,
Abstract
Background: Unplanned pregnancy is defined as a pregnancy which is mistimed (pregnancy wanted at a later time) or unwanted pregnancy (pregnancy which is not wanted at all). It is among the major public health problem that predispose women to illness and death mainly through unsafe abortion and also result in economic, social and health crisis throughout the world. Different efforts have been applied to reduce unplanned pregnancy, but it is still increasing in Africa specifically in Ethiopia. Describing the extent and identifying factors that are associated with unplanned pregnancy will help to identify the gaps and take appropriate measures. Objectives: The main objective of this study is to assess the magnitude of unplanned pregnancy and its associated factors among pregnant woman attending antenatal care at Tepi General Hospital, southwest Ethiopia, 2017. Methods: Institution based cross sectional study was conducted from February 24 to April 24, 2017 on pregnant women who are attending antenatal care at Tepi General hospital, Sheka zone south west Ethiopia. Single population proportion formula was used to get a total of 224 sampling units. To get the actual women to be interviewed simple random sampling was used. A pretested, structured, and interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Binary and multivariate logistic regression analyses was done to identify factors associated with unplanned pregnancy. The presence and strength of association was determined using COR and AOR with its 95% CI. Variables with p-value less than 0.05 were considered to declare statistical significance. Results and discussion: This study showed that magnitude of unplanned pregnancy was 22.3%. Factors like place of residence (AOR=0.429, 95%CI: 0.184, 0.996), discussion about family planning between couples (AOR=0.033, 95%: 0.006, 0.177), poor knowledge about modern family planning (AOR=5.486, 95%CI: 1.178, 25.554) and traveling distance more than 60 minutes to reach near health facility (AOR=0.073, 95%CI: 0.019, 0.287) found to be associated with unplanned pregnancy. Conclusion: The study conclude that there is no single factor accounted for the high rate of unplanned pregnancy rather many factors were interwoven to affect the occurrence of the event. Designing and implementing strategies that create awareness at community level and reinforcing postnatal contraceptive counseling to all mothers giving birth at health institution is recommended to reduce unplanned pregnancy.