School of Statistics and Planning (SSP) Collections

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Browsing School of Statistics and Planning (SSP) Collections by Subject "Abortion"
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    Abortion in Uganda : the neglected dangers
    ( 2020-05-22) Godfrey, Asiimwe
    Abortion can be defined as an ending of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus before it can survive outside the uterus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or spontaneous abortion while deliberate methods done to end a pregnancy is called an induced abortion. In this paper, emphasis was put on induced abortion where globally 56% of unintended pregnancies end up in induced abortion. (Singh S et al., 2016). As of 2010-2014, an estimated 55.9 million abortions occur each year with majority from developing regions at 49.3 million (with a rate of 36 per 1,000) while in developed regions it stands at 6.6 million (with a rate of 27 per 1,000) (Sedgh G et al., 2016). Abortion in Uganda is illegal however the Ugandan Ministry of Health's 2006 National Policy Guidelines and Service Standards for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights gives a number of specific cases in which women have the right to seek an abortion, that includes rape, sexual violence, or incest, or when the woman has pre-existing conditions such as HIV or cervical cancer. It can also be performed by a licensed medical doctor in a situation where the woman's life is deemed to be at risk. 52% of all pregnancies in Uganda are unintended, and about a quarter of these unintended pregnancies end in abortion each year. It is estimated that 314,300 abortions took place in 2013 alone translating to 14% or at a rate of 39 per 1,000 of all pregnancies of women aged 15-49 in the country according to a 2013 brief from Guttmacher Institute. Unsafe abortion practices in Uganda have consequently led to around 5 million Ugandan women annually getting injured or getting disabled due to abortion-related consequences and 5.3% of maternal deaths occurring as a result of abortion complications. Abortion has also led to increased emotional risks which have a lasting negative impact on a woman. It is recommended that a clarification on Uganda’s abortion law and policies be done at all levels in all languages since this will raise awareness on the contents and the scope of Uganda’s abortion law among the medical community, the judicial system and women.
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    Risk factors of pregnancy termination among young women in Uganda
    (Makerere University, 2022-01) Bamwebaze, George
    The objective of the study was to examine the household and individual factors associated with pregnancy termination by young women in Uganda. The investigation was based on the Uganda Demographic Health Survey data for 2016 that covered 18506 women specifically on 13672 women who were less than the age of 35 years (considered as young women). The variable of interest (dependent variable) was a binary outcome seeking to know whether one has ever had a terminated pregnancy. Analysis was done using frequency distributions, associations and the multilevel complementary log-log regression clustered by households. In the results, about 16 percent of the respondents revealed to have ever terminated a pregnancy. At multivariate analysis, the variables that turned out to be significantly influencing pregnancy termination were; age of the woman, age at first sex by the woman, marital status of the woman, number of living children of the woman and health facility access. The p-value was significant (P<0.05) for each of the above-mentioned variables. Particularly, being aged 20-24 years, 25-29 years and 30-34 years increased the odds of pregnancy termination by a woman compared to being aged 15-19 years holding other factors constant (OR=1.888, 2.614 and 3.600 respectively). With regard to age at sexual debut, women who had their sexual debut while in the age brackets 15-19 years, 20-24 years and 25-30 years had reduced odds of pregnancy termination (OR=0.888, 0.724 and 0.355 respectively) sexual debut when aged 8-14 years holding other factors constant. Considering marital status of the woman, though those who are married had increased odds of pregnancy termination, single/ Never married women had reduced odds of pregnancy termination (OR= 1.001, 0.321 respectively) compared to those who were formerly married holding other factors constant although the chances of pregnancy termination among the married and formerly married women are more or less the same. The findings suggest the need by Government of Uganda through the relevant government agencies for: increased sensitization among young girls on the benefits of delayed sex and consequences of early sexual debut; continued encouragement of family planning in families and more extension of its services to the population.