Azure, Simon Agongo, Budu, Eugene, Okyere, Joshua, Mensah, Felix, Ahinkorah, Bright Opoku, Seidu, Abdul-Aziz, and Ameyaw, Edward Kwabena (2024) Assessing the inequalities in demand for family planning satisfied in Ghana: evidence from the 1993–2014 Demographic and Health Surveys. International Health, 16. pp. 61-67.

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Abstract

Background: Family planning is essential in promoting the well-being of women and their families and communities and ensuring quality of care in contraceptive use. This study sought to assess the trend and inequalities in the demand for family planning satisfied (DFPS) in Ghana from 1993 to 2014.

Methods: The World Health Organization's Health Equity Assessment Toolkit was employed to analyse the data. We disaggregated DFPS by five equity stratifiers: age, economic status, education, residence and region. Inequality was measured using difference (D), population attributable risk (PAR), ratio (R) and population attributable fraction (PAF).

Results: The study showed an increment in DFPS from 17.8% to 38.7% between 1993 and 2014. With respect to age, we noted substantial inequality in 2003 (D=21.9 [95% confidence interval {CI} 15.2 to 28.7]), 1993 (D=4.8 [95% CI −1.8 to 11.4]) and 2014 (D=15 [95% CI 3 to 26.9]). The greatest economic inequality occurred in 1993 (PAF=69.7 [95% CI 50.8 to 88.6]; D=20.1 [95% CI 14.8 to 25.4]). Regarding education, significant inequality existed in 1993 (PAF=112 [95% CI 100.8 to 123.2]; D=29.7 [95% CI 21.9 to 37.4]). Ashanti and the Upper West regions reported significant inequalities (PAF=55.6 [95% CI 33.1 to 78.2]; D=16.1 [95% CI 8.9 to 23.3]).

Conclusions: There are age-, education-, wealth-, residence- and region-related inequalities with respect to DFPS. Policymakers will have to prioritize the needs of women with no formal or low educational attainment in order to improve DFPS coverage. Special attention needs to be given to adolescent girls since they suffer greater inequalities than adult women.

Item ID:	82637
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1876-3405
Keywords:	demand for family planning, Ghana, inequalities, satisfied.
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Date Deposited:	30 Apr 2024 00:44
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420606 Social determinants of health @ 100%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200401 Behaviour and health @ 100%
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