| Maternal and community factors associated with unmet contraceptive need among childbearing women in Northern Nigeria |
| Authors: |
Bola Lukman Solanke, Funmilola Folasade Oyinlola, Olaoye James Oyeleye, and Benjamin Bukky Ilesanmi |
| Source: |
Contraception and Reproductive Medicine, 4:11; DOI: 10.1186/s40834-019-0093-1 |
| Topic(s): |
Contraception
Maternal health
Unmet need
|
| Country: |
Africa
Nigeria
|
| Published: |
SEP 2019 |
| Abstract: |
Background: Unmet need for modern contraceptive remains a critical reproductive health challenge in Nigeria.
Numerous studies in Nigeria and other countries have investigated the patterns, prevalence and associated factors
of unmet contraceptive need. In spite of these, the associated factors of unmet contraceptive need in Northern
Nigeria have remained insufficiently explored. The few studies that focused on Northern Nigeria have mainly
examined maternal individual factors leaving out higher level factors such as community-level factors that may be
associated with unmet contraceptive need. This study examines the extent to which maternal and community
factors are associated with unmet contraceptive need in Northern Nigeria.
Method: Data was pooled from 2008 to 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys. A weighted sample size of 26,
730 women was analysed. The outcome variable was unmet contraceptive need, dichotomised into no unmet need
and unmet need. The explanatory variables were individual maternal characteristics such as age, education, number of
living children, age at marriage, pregnancy termination experience, and death of a child, and selected community
characteristics such as community socioeconomic status, community literacy level, community knowledge of modern
contraceptive and geo-political zone. The Multilevel Logistic Regression Model (MLRM) was applied.
Result: Results showed a prevalence of 18% unmet contraceptive need among Northern women in Nigeria. Maternal
age of 35 years or older (AOR = 0.873; p < 0.05, CI: 0.780–0.976), having five or more living children (AOR = 1.813; p < 0.001,
CI: 1.663–1.977), higher maternal education (AOR = 0.787; p < 0.05, CI: 0.625–0.993), and never experience death of a child
(AOR = 0.866; p < 0.001, CI: 0.805–0.933) are the maternal factors significantly associated with unmet contraceptive need,
while high community literacy level (AOR = 1.230; p < 0.05, CI: 1.041–1.454), moderate (AOR = 0.862; p < 0.05, CI: 0.767–
0.968) or high (AOR = 0.821; p < 0.05, CI: 0.726–0.929) community knowledge of modern contraceptive, and geo-political
zone of residence are the community-level characteristics significantly associated with unmet contraceptive need among
women in Northern Nigeria.
Conclusion: Maternal and community factors are significantly associated with unmet contraceptive need, but based on
the ICC maternal factors have more significance in Northern Nigeria. The expansion of existing family planning delivery
points to cover all communities including rural and remote areas in the region is imperative.
Keywords: Unmet need, Contraceptive, Reproductive health, Women, Maternal health, Northern Nigeria |
| Web: |
https://contraceptionmedicine.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s40834-019-0093-1 |
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