Men and family planning in Zambia

Relationship characteristics and contraceptive use among couples in urban kenya

CONTEXT

Few studies have used couple data to identify associations between individual- and relationship-level characteristics and contraceptive use in urban areas.

METHODS

Population-based survey data collected in 2010 in three Kenyan cities-Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu-were used to identify 883 couples. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine associations between relationship-level characteristics (i.e., desire for another child, and communication about desired number of children and family planning use) and contraceptive use among couples currently using contraceptives; additional analyses investigated intention to use contraceptives among couples currently not practicing contraception.

RESULTS

Sixty percent of couples reported current use of contraceptives. In multivariate analyses, couples who desired another child were less likely to use contraceptives than couples who wanted no more children (odds ratio, 0.5). Couples in which both partners reported spousal communication about family planning in the past six months had greater odds of contraceptive use than couples that reported no spousal communication on the subject (3.8). Results from analyses examining associations between relationship-level characteristics and intention to use contraceptives among current nonusers resembled those from analyses of current contraceptive users.

CONCLUSION

In this study, relationship-level characteristics were associated with current contraceptive use and intention to use contraceptives among couples in urban Kenya. Family planning programs that promote spousal communication about family planning and desired number of children may improve contraceptive use among urban couples.

Prevalence and determinants of current contraceptive method use in a palm oil company in Cameroon

The principal reasons given by African women for not using contraception include their lack of economic power and control over their choice of partner. An epidemiologic descriptive survey of a cross-section of the female personnel of a Cameroonian palm oil company (SOCAPALM) was carried out in August 1995, to evaluate the various determinants and level of use of various family planning methods in a well defined population of women in employment. An exhaustive list of all the households in the five villages of SOCAPALM was compiled and all women between 15 and 49 years of age who had lived on the palm oil plantation for at least a year were interviewed. The adjusted odds ratios showed that use of modern contraceptive methods was significantly associated with the woman having received secondary education, having more than three children, being the head of the household and, in cases where there was a man regularly present in the household, his approval of family planning. Recently receiving information (during the last month) about family planning was not identified by multivariate analysis as a significant factor affecting the decision to use modern or traditional contraception. The same factors were found to be associated with the use of traditional methods of contraception, but having had an illegal abortion was also associated with the use of such methods. Thus, the level of knowledge about family planning and the prevalence of contraceptive use was significantly higher for women living in industrial environments (such as SOCAPALM), than in the overall population of women in Cameroon. The economic power of the woman, the presence of a strong social reproductive health network, and the positive attitude of men and community leaders were the most important factors affecting the family planning decision of the women.