Spatial analysis of modern contraceptive use among women who need it in Ethiopia: Using geo-referenced data from performance monitoring for action.

Introduction: The challenge of achieving maternal and neonatal health-related goals in developing countries is significantly impacted by high fertility rates, which are partly attributed to limited access to family planning and access to the healthcare systems. The most widely used indicator to monitor family planning coverage is the proportion of women in reproductive age using contraception (CPR). However, this metric does not accurately reflect the true family planning coverage, as it fails to account for the diverse needs of women in reproductive age. Not all women in this category require contraception, including those who are pregnant, wish to become pregnant, sexually inactive, or infertile. To effectively address the contraceptive needs of those who require it, this study aims to estimate family planning coverage among this specific group. Further, we aimed to explore the geographical variation and factors influencing contraceptive uptake of contraceptive use among those who need.

Method: We used data from the Performance Monitoring for Action Ethiopia (PMA Ethiopia) survey of women of reproductive age and the service delivery point (SDP) survey conducted in 2019. A total of 4,390 women who need contraception were considered as the analytical sample. To account for the study design, sampling weights were considered to compute the coverage of modern contraceptive use disaggregated by socio-demographic factors. Bayesian geostatistical modeling was employed to identify potential factors associated with the uptake of modern contraception and produce spatial prediction to unsampled locations.

Result: The overall weighted prevalence of modern contraception use among women who need it was 44.2% (with 95% CI: 42.4%-45.9%). Across regions of Ethiopia, contraceptive use coverage varies from nearly 0% in Somali region to 52.3% in Addis Ababa. The average nearest distance from a woman's home to the nearest SDP was high in the Afar and Somali regions. The spatial mapping shows that contraceptive coverage was lower in the eastern part of the country. At zonal administrative level, relatively high (above 55%) proportion of modern contraception use coverage were observed in Adama Liyu Zone, Ilu Ababor, Misrak Shewa, and Kefa zone and the coverage were null in majority of Afar and Somali region zones. Among modern contraceptive users, use of the injectable dominated the method-mix. The modeling result reveals that, living closer to a SDP, having discussions about family planning with the partner, following a Christian religion, no pregnancy intention, being ever pregnant and being young increases the likelihood of using modern contraceptive methods.

Conclusion: Areas with low contraceptive coverage and lower access to contraception because of distance should be prioritized by the government and other supporting agencies. Women who discussed family planning with their partner were more likely to use modern contraceptives unlike those without such discussion. Thus, to improve the coverage of contraceptive use, it is very important to encourage/advocate women to have discussions with their partner and establish movable health systems for the nomadic community.