Why Unmet Need for Family Planning Remains High in Bangladesh: A Community Level Analysis

Abstract

Background: Improving reproductive health (RH) is widely recognized as a key component of social and economic development. Interaction of different factors such as individual, household and community level covariates plays an important role in determining the level of unmet need for family planning. Objectives: The objective of the study is to examine the association between individual, household and community level covariates with the level of unmet need for family planning in Bangladesh. Methodology: For the core, analysis data has been extracted from Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS), 2011. Multilevel regression analyses have been employed to explore the relative effects of community, household level and individual level factors on unmet need for family planning among currently married women. Results: Results shows that unmet need for contraception marginally declined from 16.8% in 2007 to 13.5% in 2011. Surprisingly the impact of education and wealth index is marginal in determining the level of unmet need. On the other hand, three community level variables (% women exposed to family planning, % women with ideal number of children and % women with primary and higher education) significantly associated with the level of unmet need for family planning in Bangladesh. Conclusion: Since unmet needs for family planning has multiple advantages for both the individual and society, it is necessary for the governments to come up with strategies, which can reduce unmet needs.

Unmet Need of Family Planning Among Married Women of Reproductive Age in Rural Areas of Manikganj District

“…In another study, the principal barrier to use contraceptive was fear of side effect in (46.1%) cases 14 Pradhan et al showed that educated women had desire for fewer children than their less educated counterparts because of incompatibility between formal sector employment and child care. This study also revealed parity decline with increased level of education 16 . Contraceptive use rate also varies according to number of living children.…”

Individual and community-level factors associated with unmet need for contraception among reproductive-age women in Ethiopia; a multi-level analysis of 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey

“…Unmet need for contraception was determined by individual-level factors ((age, age of marriage education and occupation status of the mother) [16][17][18][19], husband factors (occupation and educational status of husband) [20][21][22], household factor (wealth)) [23] and community-level factor (place of residence, region, community-level of education and media exposure) [24][25][26]. Unmet need for family planning is an important concept that is largely used for reproductive health advocacy, designing family planning policies and the monitoring/evaluation of implemented programs especially Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) and Growth and Transformation Plan two (GTPІІ) [27,28].…”

Individual and community-level factors associated with unmet need for contraception among reproductive-age women in Ethiopia. A multi-level analysis of 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey

“…Unmet need for contraception was determined by individual-level factors ((age, age of marriage education and occupation status of the mother) [16][17][18][19], husband factors (occupation and educational status of husband) [20][21][22], household factor (wealth)) [23] and community-level factor (place of 4 residence, region, community-level of education and media exposure) [24][25][26]. Unmet need for family planning is an important concept that is largely used for reproductive health advocacy, designing family planning policies and the monitoring/evaluation of implemented programs especially Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) and Growth and Transformation Plan two (GTPІІ) [27,28].…”