Research Article
Kelemu Chafo and Feleke Doy
Abstract
Background: An estimated 150 million married women in the developing world want to delay or stop childbearing and are not using contraception. Among women who are not currently using contraception, some report that they want to space births, while others report that they do not want to have any more children. Therefore, this study is aimed to assess unmet need for family planning and associated factors among currently married women in Misha District, Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Methods: A community based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 660 currently married women. Structured interviewer administered questionnaires were used to collect data. A stratified multistage sampling technique was used to select respondents from each stratum. The collected data were entered to EPI-data 3.2.1 and exported to SPSS version 16.0 for analysis. Furthermore, bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify the influencing factors using backward variable selection techniques. The crude and adjusted odds ratios together with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals were computed and interpreted accordingly. A P-value<0.05 was considered to declare a result as statistically significant in this study. Result: Unmet need for family planning was 175 (26.5%) and met need was 210 (31.8%) of currently married women. Mother education [AOR (95%CI)=4.01(2.43-6.60)], parity [AOR (95%CI=3.30(2.03-5.35)], knowledge of contraceptive method [AOR (95%CI)=4.05(1.61-7.20)] were positively associated with unmet need and discussion with partner and health extension workers [AOR (95%CI)=0.18(0.12-0.27)] were negatively associated with unmet need for family planning. Conclusion: The proportions of women with unmet need for family planning in the study site were still high. Developing and implementing programs that encourage the involvement of men in family planning, encouraging spousal communication and discussion with HEWs were possible factors to bridge the gap between demand and unmet need. *Corresponding author: Feleke Doyore, Lecturer, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Wachemo University, P.O. Box: 667, Hossana, Ethiopia, E-mail: feledoag@yahoo.com Received April 11, 2014; Accepted May 27, 2014; Published May 31, 2014 Citation: Chafo K, Doyore F (2014) Unmet Need for Family Planning and Associated Factors among Currently Married Women in Misha District, Southern Ethiopia: A Cross Sectional Study. J Women’s Health Care 3: 165. doi:10.4172/2167- 0420.1000165 Copyright: © 2014 Chafo K, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.