Unmet need for contraception among married women (15-49 years) of an urban slum of South Gujarat - A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Background: Rising fertility rate and population growth is one of the direct indicators of poor family planning. Unmet need for contraception plays a significant role in fertility control and also health of mother and child by decreasing infant and maternal mortality rate by bringing wanted and planned pregnancy. Fertility pattern is distorted mainly in under developed or vulnerable society like rural areas, urban slums or among migrants or nomads. Therefore, this study is conducted in the urban slum. Methods: Community based cross sectional study done in the urban slum of field practice area of the Department of Community Medicine.  Sample size estimated as 305 as per the prevalence of unmet need for contraception of married women of reproductive age of 15-49 years and so house to house survey done to obtain it and hence interviewed by predesigned semi-structured questionnaire. Prior ethical and scientific committee approval obtained. PICF and written consent also obtained from participants. Data entry done in excel sheet and analysed using SPSS. Results: Proportion of protected couple is 52.13% (159) in which 18(11.3%) women discontinued thus 46.2% (141) whereas proportion of unprotected couple is 47.87% (146) among them 32 (21.91%) women excluded due to pregnancy, infertility and hysterectomy. So, precisely 37.4% (114) women had unmet need for contraception. Among protected women using spacing method were 17(12%) and opted limiting method by 124 (88%) women. Chi- square shows significant association between age, literacy, occupation and number of children for contraception usage. Conclusion: Unmet need for contraception is high among young married women of urban slum and also influenced by various socio-demographic characters. This needs policy makers and program managers to address the scenario in a holistic manner by giving more emphasis on the determinants influencing unmet need for contraception.

Keywords: unmet need, married women, family planning, urban slum.