Determinants of the unmet need for family planning among married fecund women in Natmauk township, Magway region of Myanmar

Abstract

Family Planning plays an important role in improving maternal and child health by means of adequate spacing of child births and preventing unintended pregnancies. Reducing unmet need is crucial in fighting against the high levels of induced abortions, maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2018 to April 2018 in Natmauk township, Magway region of Myanmar. A total of 420 married reproductive aged women (18 - 49 years) were enrolled in this study and two-stage stratified sampling was used to draw a sample. The data were collected by face to face interviewing the respondents with a structured questionnaire. Total percentage of unmet need for family planning in the study area was 18.1% and prevalence of contraceptive use among married women was 71.7%. After using multiple logistic regression, older women more than 35 years of age (AOR=2.48 [1.47-4.19], p=0.001), poor attitude towards family planning (AOR=1.95 [1.13-3.40], p=0.017), women who got low social support from husband and friends (AOR=1.87 [1.07-3.25], p=0.028) were more likely to have unmet need for family planning than their counterparts. The main reason for not using contraception was fear of side effects. It should be given special attention as the prevalence of unmet need for family planning was still high in the study area. The older age group, attitude towards family planning and social support from husband and friends are the major factors to be considered when planning interventions to reduce the level of unmet need for family planning in Myanmar. Local government and health authorities should implement comprehensive health programs which should be focused on the women as well as their husbands and provide family planning counselling strategies while integrating participation of women and their husbands in sensitizing campaigns on family planning programs in order to improve the attitude towards family planning.