Donkoh, Irene Esi, Okyere, Joshua, Seidu, Abdul-Aziz, Ahinkorah, Bright Opoku, Aboagye, Richard Gyan, and Yaya, Sanni (2024) Association between knowledge and use of contraceptive among women of reproductive age in sub‐Saharan Africa. Health Science Reports, 7 (5). e2028.

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Abstract

Background and Aims: The use of contraceptives has been considered relevant in reducing unintended pregnancies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, despite evidence of knowledge of contraceptives, their use remains low in SSA. This study examined the association between knowledge of contraceptive methods and the use of contraceptives in SSA.

Methods: Data for the study were extracted from the Demographic and Health Surveys of 21 countries in SSA spanning from 2015 to 2021. A weighted sample of 200,498 sexually active women of reproductive age were included in the final analysis. We presented the results on the utilization of contraceptives using percentages with their respective 95% confidence intervals (CI). We examined the association between knowledge of contraceptive methods and the use of contraceptives using multilevel binary logistic regression analysis.

Results: Overall, 24.32% (95% CI: 24.15–24.50) of women in SSA used contraceptives. Chad had the lowest prevalence of contraceptive use (5.07%) while Zimbabwe had the highest prevalence (66.81%). The odds of using any method of contraception were significantly higher for women with medium [Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.89; 95% CI = 1.80–1.98] and high [AOR = 2.22; 95% CI = 2.10–2.33] knowledge of contraceptive methods compared to those with low knowledge, after adjusting for all covariates.

Conclusion: Our study has shown that the use of contraceptives among women in SSA is low. Women's knowledge of any contraception method increases their likelihood of using contraceptives in SSA. To improve contraceptive use in SSA, targeted interventions and programmes should increase awareness creation and sensitization, which can improve women's knowledge on methods of contraception. Also, programmes implemented to address the low uptake of contraceptives should consider the factors identified in this study. In addition, specific subregional strategies could be implemented to narrow the subregional disparities.

Item ID:	85858
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2398-8835
Copyright Information:	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. © 2024 The Authors. Health Science Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Date Deposited:	17 Jun 2025 03:03
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420606 Social determinants of health @ 100%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2005 Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health) > 200509 Women's and maternal health @ 100%
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