BackgroundUnmet need for family planning has implications for women and their families, such as unsafe abortion, physical abuse, and poor maternal health. Contraceptive knowledge has increased across low-income settings, yet unmet need remains high with little information on the factors explaining it. This study assessed factors associated with unmet need among pregnant women in rural Burkina Faso.MethodWe collected data on pregnant women through a population-based survey conducted in 24 rural districts between October 2013 and March 2014. Multivariate multilevel logistic regression was used to assess the association between unmet need for family planning and a selection of relevant demand- and supply-side factors.ResultsOf the 1309 pregnant women covered in the survey, 239 (18.26%) reported experiencing unmet need for family planning. Pregnant women with more than three living children [OR = 1.80; 95% CI (1.11–2.91)], those with a child younger than 1 year [OR = 1.75; 95% CI (1.04–2.97)], pregnant women whose partners disapproves contraceptive use [OR = 1.51; 95% CI (1.03–2.21)] and women who desired fewer children compared to their partners preferred number of children [OR = 1.907; 95% CI (1.361–2.672)] were significantly more likely to experience unmet need for family planning, while health staff training in family planning logistics management (OR = 0.46; 95% CI (0.24–0.73)] was associated with a lower probability of experiencing unmet need for family planning.ConclusionFindings suggest the need to strengthen family planning interventions in Burkina Faso to ensure greater uptake of contraceptive use and thus reduce unmet need for family planning.

BackgroundBurkina Faso, like many low and middle income countries, has been taking a range of actions to address its poor maternal and neonatal health indicators. In 2006 the government introduced an innovative national subsidy scheme for deliveries and emergency obstetric care in public facilities. This article reports on a complex evaluation of this policy, carried out 5 years after its introduction, which examined its effects on utilisation, quality of care, equity and the health system as a whole, as well as its cost and sustainability.MethodsThe evaluation was carried out in six purposively selected districts, as well as at national level, using a case study approach. Data sources included: national and district routine and survey data, household interviews with women who had recently given birth, data extraction from hospital and medical records, and key informant and health worker interviews.ResultsThe underlying secular trend of a 1 % annual increase in the facility-based delivery rate (1988–2010) was augmented by an additional 4 % annual increase from 2007 onwards (after the policy was introduced), especially in rural areas and amongst women from poor households. The absence of baseline quality of care data made it difficult to assess the impact of the policy on quality of care, but hospitals with the best level of implementation of the subsidy offered higher quality of care (as measured by health care near-misses), so there is no evidence of a negative impact on quality (as is often feared). Similarly, there is little evidence of unintended negative effects on untargeted services. Household payments for facility-based deliveries have reduced significantly, compared with payments before the policy, and the policy as a whole is affordable, costing about 2 % of total public health expenditure.Concerns include that the amounts paid by households are higher than the rates set by the policy, and also that 7 % of households still say that they cannot afford to pay. Wealthier women have higher utilisation of services, as before, and the policy of fully exempting indigents is not being put into practice.ConclusionsThese findings highlight the importance of maintaining the subsidy policy, given the evidence of positive outcomes, but they also point out areas where attention is needed to ensure the poor and most vulnerable population benefit fully from the policy.

This study investigates the long term economic impact of severe obstetric complications for women and their children in Burkina Faso, focusing on measures of food security, expenditures and related quality of life measures. It uses a hospital based cohort, first visited in 2004/2005 and followed up four years later. This cohort of 1014 women consisted of two main groups of comparison: 677 women who had an uncomplicated delivery and 337 women who experienced a severe obstetric complication which would have almost certainly caused death had they not received hospital care (labelled a “near miss” event). To analyze the impact of such near miss events as well as the possible interaction with the pregnancy outcome, we compared household and individual level indicators between women without a near miss event and women with a near miss event who either had a live birth, a perinatal death or an early pregnancy loss. We used propensity score matching to remove initial selection bias. Although we found limited effects for the whole group of near miss women, the results indicated negative impacts: a) for near miss women with a live birth, on child development and education, on relatively expensive food consumption and on women’s quality of life; b) for near miss women with perinatal death, on relatively expensive foods consumption and children’s education and c) for near miss women who had an early pregnancy loss, on overall food security. Our results showed that severe obstetric complications have long lasting consequences for different groups of women and their children and highlighted the need for carefully targeted interventions.

Given the current low contraceptive use and corresponding high levels of unwanted pregnancies leading to induced abortions and poor maternal health outcomes among rural populations, a detailed understanding of the factors that limit contraceptive use is essential. Our study investigated household and health facility factors that influence contraceptive use decisions among rural women in rural Burkina Faso. We collected data on fertile non-pregnant women in 24 rural districts in 2014. Of 8,657 women, 1,098 used a modern contraceptive. Women having a living son, a child younger than one year, and household wealth were more likely to use modern contraceptives. Women in polygamous marriages and women living at least 5 kilometers from a health facility were less likely to use contraception. We conclude that modern contraceptive use remains weak, hence, programs aiming to encourage contraceptive use must address barriers at both the health facility and the household level.