| Patterns and Determinants of Modern Contraceptive Use in Southern Africa |
| Authors: |
P. S. Nair, and K. Navaneetham |
| Source: |
Demography India, 44(1&2): 40-49 |
| Topic(s): |
Contraception
Family planning
|
| Country: |
Africa
Multiple African Countries
|
| Published: |
JAN 2015 |
| Abstract: |
The main objective of this paper is to study the patterns and determinants of
contraceptive use in southern Africa. Four countries, Botswana, Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC), Mozambique and Zambia from the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) are selected for the study and DHS data were used for all countries
except Botswana. For Botswana, the Botswana Family Health Survey data were used.
There is tremendous variation in the usage of modern contraceptives among the four
countries studied. Botswana ranks first in terms of contraceptive prevalence with 76.7 percent
of women using a modern contraceptive in 2007 followed by Zambia, Mozambique and DRC.
Contraceptive use is concentrated more in 20-39 age group in all countries. Surprisingly,
parity does not have a significant relationship with the use of modern contraception in DRC,
whereas the study found negative relationship between parity and modern contraceptive use in
Botswana. It seems that younger women in Botswana use contraceptives to prevent infection
from HIV. Also, those who want to postpone pregnancy are more likely to accept
contraception. In the bivariate analysis, age, parity, education, exposure to media, wealth and
place of residence (urban) are positively related to contraception.
The logistic regression results show that the age of women, fecundity, desire for
children, women’s education, wealth status and place of residence are strong predictors of
modern contraception. However, the patterns and magnitude of the effects vary between
countries. This implies that the level of development, prevalence of HIV/AIDS and sexual
practices may work as mediating factors to form the relationship between the individual (like
parity, marital status) and household level characteristics (wealth status) with modern
contraception. The study confirms that the improvement in education and eradication of
poverty would be crucial policy interventions to increase the level of contraception in
southern Africa. |
| Web: |
http://demographyindia.in/article_document/4/8133540-49.pdf |
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