CONTRACEPTIVE NEEDS AND PRACTICE OF WOMEN IN THE EXTENDED POST- PARTUM PERIOD IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Family planning is the most cost-effective intervention to improve health outcomes in reproductive, maternal and child health. Extended post-partum defined as one-year post-birth period, 95% of low and middle-income countries women want to avoid a pregnancy within the next two years, but 70% are not using contraception. OBJECTIVE: To determine the magnitude and factors associated with contraceptive needs and practices of women during extended postpartum period in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: Institution based cross sectional study used. Women in the reproductive age group within their first year after delivery who came to selected health facilities with their infants for immunization or child health clinics were interviewed. Epi-Info version 7 and SPSS version 21 were used for data entry & analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Bivariate and multi variable logistic regression model were used to see an association between variables. RESULT: Eight hundred thirty three post-partum mothers were interviewed. Mean age (± 1SD) of mothers at their last delivery was 27.3 (+ 4.5) years. The median number of pregnancy was 2. Regarding reproductive intention, 45.0% of mothers want to space the next pregnancy for more than two years. Among the 92.6% of mothers who wanted to use contraceptive method, 70.9% of them use modern contraceptives which give contraceptive prevalence rate of 65.7% . CONCLUSION: Reproductive intention, resumption of menses and sexual intercourse, knowledge, discussion with partner, post-partum visit and family planning counseling were found to be factors associated with postpartum family planning practice. Improving the knowledge on long term family planning methods and lactational amenorrhea method should be strengthen. KEY WORDS: Post-partum family planning, Post-partum contraceptives and family planning in extended postpartum period. (Ethiopian Journal of Reproductive Health 2017;9:17-24)