Determinants of Unintended Pregnancies Among Currently Married Women in Uganda

Abstract Background: Unintended pregnancies are no longer bound to teenagers or school going children, married women in Uganda as well experience such pregnancies though little has been investigated on them. This study therefore examines the determinants of unintended pregnancies among currently married women in Uganda.Methods: In this study, we used data from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) which comprised of 11,223 married women aged 15-49 years. Analysis was done using descriptive analysis, logistic regression, Poisson regression, log-rank test for survival functions, cox proportional hazards model, and the generalized structural equation model.Results: The study revealed that 45% of the pregnancies were unintended while 3 in 10 married women were not using contraceptives. At the bivariate level; unintended pregnancy was associated with the highest wealth quintile (OR=0.45, 95%CI=0.40-0.49) while contraceptive use was associated with higher education level (OR=4.90, 95% CI=4.10-5.86). Similarly, children ever born were associated with married women from rural areas (IRR=4.34, 95% CI=4.30-4.39). At the multivariate level, married women from northern region (AOR=0.55, 95% CI=0.45-0.64) had lower odds and Muslim married women with more children (AOR=1.04, 95% CI=1.01-1.07) had higher odds of unintended pregnancy.Conclusion: Unintended pregnancies are directly and indirectly influenced by higher fertility and improver use of contraceptive. Married women who had more children and were: from poor households, with lowest education, in Central region, in rural areas, with low age at first birth, with older partners and were Muslim were more likely to have unintended pregnancies. Also, married women who were using contraceptives and were: older age, Anglican, from wealthiest households, in agricultural or domestic sector and higher parity were associated with higher risk of unintended pregnancies. The government should make efforts in reducing the fertility among married women by investing in programs and policies like: sensitization of women on the effectiveness in use of contraceptives, making contraceptives affordable and easily accessible to all people in different regions of the country with emphasis on who already have four or more children. Extension of higher education to all people will lead to reduced risks of unintended pregnancies.