Factors associated with use of injectable contraceptives among women in Uganda

Abstract

This study was aimed at investigating the factors associated with the use of injectable contraceptives among women in Uganda. The study focused on women in Uganda and was based on a data set from the 2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), conducted by Uganda Bureau of Statistics and Macro International. Analysis of this study was done at univariate, bivariate and multivariate levels. Data was sorted using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) and thereafter STATA was used for univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis.

Various demographic and socio-economic variables were studied however the study found out that variables’: age, marital status and number of living children were significant factors in determining use of injectable contraceptives. Further, the study also found out that use of injectable contraceptives decreased with age; in other words, the older a woman became the less likely it was for her to use hormonal injectable. Women who were never married were found less likely to use injectable contraceptives than their married counterparts. In addition, the study found that women with one or more living children were more likely to use injectable contraceptives than women with no living children. All in all hormonal injectables are an ideal method option for spacing and delaying births and should further be made available, and accessible to women who are most likely to use them that is; women in the age group below 24 years (15-24), married women and women with one or more living children.

The study recommends that the government through related health institutions should facilitate use of injectable contraceptives among young women. In addition, because of the high use of injectable contraceptives among married women, the study recommends that Injectable contraceptives be made readily available to married women. There is also a need to repackage injectable contraceptives messages, promoting injectable contraceptives to women as a LARM of contraception, capable of offering long term protection against pregnancy and not just as a short acting method of contraception. The long acting nature of injectable contraceptives along many other advantages of the method is one of the advantages that needs to be highlighted and used to encourage and affirm use of injectable contraceptives among women with 1 or more living children, desiring to space and limit births for 2 or more years.