Suboptimal child spacing practice and its associated factors among women of child bearing age in Serbo town, JIMMA zone, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction Birth spacing is the time gaps between two consecutive life births. Optimal spacing until the next pregnancy is the resting period that allows the mother time to recover from pregnancy, and labor. Birth interval of 3 to 5 years increases maternal health and child survival and family planning programs have advocated this birth interval. Objectives To assess prevalence of Suboptimal Child spacing practice and its associated factors among Women of Child bearing age in Serbo town, Jimma Zone Southwest Ethiopia. Methods Community based cross sectional study was conducted on a total of 314 women of child bearing age from March to April 2017 who were selected by simple random sampling. A semi structured questionnaire which was pretested was used to collect the data. Data was checked for completeness and analyzed using SPSS V.20. Bi-variable logistic regression and multi- variable regression were done for predictor variables associated at p -value < 0.05 with the outcome variable. Result The prevalence of short birth interval in this study was 59.9%. Independent predictors like age at first marriage (AOR: 2.10, 95% CI = 1.19, 3.69), sex of index child (AOR: 1.964, 95% CI = 1.05 3.96), educational status (AOR: 3.05,95% CI = 1.68, 3.83), duration of breastfeeding (AOR: 3.09, 95% CI = 1.38, 6.96) and use of modern contraceptives (AOR: 1.94, 95% CI = 1.09, 3.45) were found to be statistically associated with short birth interval. Conclusion and recommendation Majority of the study respondents were practicing short birth interval. Education level, age at first marriage, having female child, short duration of breastfeeding and not using of modern contraceptives were factors associated with the outcome variable. Therefore awareness about modern contraceptive utilization, importance of breastfeeding as birth spacing mechanism and impact of early marriage are recommended.

Short birth spacing and its association with maternal educational status, contraceptive use, and duration of breastfeeding in Ethiopia. A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…From the 9 articles, 6 studies with a total of 3,797 women of childbearing age were included to estimate the pooled prevalence of short birth spacing in Ethiopia. The lowest prevalence of short birth spacing (23.3%) was reported from a study done in the Tselemti district, Tigray region [ 40 ] whereas the highest prevalence of short birth spacing (59.9%) was observed from a study done in Serbo town, Oromia region [ 39 ]. ( Table 1 ).…”

“…A total of three studies [ 39 , 42 , 43 ] were included to identify the association between the duration of breastfeeding and short birth spacing. The result of the random-effect meta-analysis showed the odds of practicing short birth spacing was 16.9 higher among women who breastfeed their child less than 24 months as compared to women who breastfeed ≥ 24 months [OR = 16.9, 95%CI: (2.69, 106.47)].…”

“…The association between the educational status of the mother and short birth spacing was also assessed based on the results of three studies [ 39 , 42 , 43 ]. But, pooled estimate showed non-significant association [OR = 1.60, 95%CI: (0.59, 4.31)].…”

Usage of Contraceptive and Birth Interval in Ethiopia: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…The sample size of included studies was ranged from 7740 for the National Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey in the crossectional study from Ethiopia [16] to 314 Serbo Town [17] (table 1). Out of 13 studies included in the meta-analysis, 16311 women were involved.…”

“…(Table 1). From thirteen studies, Ten of them were showed a statistically significant association between contraceptive use and short of birth interval [17][18][19][20][23][24][25][26][27][28] while, three studies did not showed a statistically significant association between contraceptive use and short of birth interval [16,21,22].…”