Prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa : a multi-country analysis of demographic and health surveys

Edward Kwabena AMEYAW; Eugene BUDU; Francis SAMBAH; Linus BAATIEMA; Francis APPIAH; Abdul Aziz SEIDU; Bright Opoku AHINKORAH

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0220970

Prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa : a multi-country analysis of demographic and health surveys

Edward Kwabena AMEYAW
, Eugene BUDU
, Francis SAMBAH
, Linus BAATIEMA
, Francis APPIAH
, Abdul Aziz SEIDU^*
, Bright Opoku AHINKORAH

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

159 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Introduction: Approximately 14 million unintended pregnancies are recorded annually in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We sought to investigate the prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancies among women in sub-Saharan Africa.

Materials and methods: The study pooled data from current Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2016 from 29 countries in SSA. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the factors that influence unintended pregnancies in SSA. Results were presented using odds ratios (OR).

Results: We found overall unintended pregnancy prevalence rate of 29%, ranging from 10.8% in Nigeria to 54.5% in Namibia. As compared to women aged 15–19 years, women of all other age categories had higher odds of unintended pregnancies. Married women were 6 times more probable to report unintended pregnancy as compared to women who had never married (OR = 6.29, CI = 5.65–7.01). The phenomenon had higher odds among rural residents as compared to urban residents (OR = 1.08, CI = 1.01–1.16). Women with primary (OR = 0.74, CI = 0.69–0.80) and secondary (OR = 0.71, CI = 0.65–0.77) levels of education had less chances of unintended pregnancies, compared to those with no education. Again, women in all other wealth categories had less probability of unintended pregnancy, as compared to women with poorest wealth status.

Conclusion: Our study contributes substantially towards the discourse of maternal wellbeing by unveiling the prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancy across the SSA region. There is the need for SSA countries with high prevalence of unintended pregnancies to consider past and present successful interventions of other countries within the region such as health education, counselling, skills-building, comprehensive sex education and access to contraception. Much of these efforts rest with the governments of SSA countries.

Original language	English
Article number	e0220970
Number of pages	16
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	14
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220970
Publication status	Published - 9 Aug 2019
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Ameyaw et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
SDG 5 Gender Equality

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10.1371/journal.pone.0220970Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa : a multi-country analysis of demographic and health surveys",

abstract = "Introduction: Approximately 14 million unintended pregnancies are recorded annually in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We sought to investigate the prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancies among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Materials and methods: The study pooled data from current Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2016 from 29 countries in SSA. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the factors that influence unintended pregnancies in SSA. Results were presented using odds ratios (OR). Results: We found overall unintended pregnancy prevalence rate of 29\%, ranging from 10.8\% in Nigeria to 54.5\% in Namibia. As compared to women aged 15{\textendash}19 years, women of all other age categories had higher odds of unintended pregnancies. Married women were 6 times more probable to report unintended pregnancy as compared to women who had never married (OR = 6.29, CI = 5.65{\textendash}7.01). The phenomenon had higher odds among rural residents as compared to urban residents (OR = 1.08, CI = 1.01{\textendash}1.16). Women with primary (OR = 0.74, CI = 0.69{\textendash}0.80) and secondary (OR = 0.71, CI = 0.65{\textendash}0.77) levels of education had less chances of unintended pregnancies, compared to those with no education. Again, women in all other wealth categories had less probability of unintended pregnancy, as compared to women with poorest wealth status. Conclusion: Our study contributes substantially towards the discourse of maternal wellbeing by unveiling the prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancy across the SSA region. There is the need for SSA countries with high prevalence of unintended pregnancies to consider past and present successful interventions of other countries within the region such as health education, counselling, skills-building, comprehensive sex education and access to contraception. Much of these efforts rest with the governments of SSA countries.",

author = "AMEYAW, \{Edward Kwabena\} and Eugene BUDU and Francis SAMBAH and Linus BAATIEMA and Francis APPIAH and SEIDU, \{Abdul Aziz\} and AHINKORAH, \{Bright Opoku\}",

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AU - BAATIEMA, Linus

AU - APPIAH, Francis

AU - SEIDU, Abdul Aziz

AU - AHINKORAH, Bright Opoku

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N2 - Introduction: Approximately 14 million unintended pregnancies are recorded annually in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We sought to investigate the prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancies among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Materials and methods: The study pooled data from current Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2016 from 29 countries in SSA. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the factors that influence unintended pregnancies in SSA. Results were presented using odds ratios (OR). Results: We found overall unintended pregnancy prevalence rate of 29%, ranging from 10.8% in Nigeria to 54.5% in Namibia. As compared to women aged 15–19 years, women of all other age categories had higher odds of unintended pregnancies. Married women were 6 times more probable to report unintended pregnancy as compared to women who had never married (OR = 6.29, CI = 5.65–7.01). The phenomenon had higher odds among rural residents as compared to urban residents (OR = 1.08, CI = 1.01–1.16). Women with primary (OR = 0.74, CI = 0.69–0.80) and secondary (OR = 0.71, CI = 0.65–0.77) levels of education had less chances of unintended pregnancies, compared to those with no education. Again, women in all other wealth categories had less probability of unintended pregnancy, as compared to women with poorest wealth status. Conclusion: Our study contributes substantially towards the discourse of maternal wellbeing by unveiling the prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancy across the SSA region. There is the need for SSA countries with high prevalence of unintended pregnancies to consider past and present successful interventions of other countries within the region such as health education, counselling, skills-building, comprehensive sex education and access to contraception. Much of these efforts rest with the governments of SSA countries.

AB - Introduction: Approximately 14 million unintended pregnancies are recorded annually in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We sought to investigate the prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancies among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Materials and methods: The study pooled data from current Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2016 from 29 countries in SSA. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the factors that influence unintended pregnancies in SSA. Results were presented using odds ratios (OR). Results: We found overall unintended pregnancy prevalence rate of 29%, ranging from 10.8% in Nigeria to 54.5% in Namibia. As compared to women aged 15–19 years, women of all other age categories had higher odds of unintended pregnancies. Married women were 6 times more probable to report unintended pregnancy as compared to women who had never married (OR = 6.29, CI = 5.65–7.01). The phenomenon had higher odds among rural residents as compared to urban residents (OR = 1.08, CI = 1.01–1.16). Women with primary (OR = 0.74, CI = 0.69–0.80) and secondary (OR = 0.71, CI = 0.65–0.77) levels of education had less chances of unintended pregnancies, compared to those with no education. Again, women in all other wealth categories had less probability of unintended pregnancy, as compared to women with poorest wealth status. Conclusion: Our study contributes substantially towards the discourse of maternal wellbeing by unveiling the prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancy across the SSA region. There is the need for SSA countries with high prevalence of unintended pregnancies to consider past and present successful interventions of other countries within the region such as health education, counselling, skills-building, comprehensive sex education and access to contraception. Much of these efforts rest with the governments of SSA countries.

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SN - 1932-6203

VL - 14

JO - PLoS ONE

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ER -

Prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa : a multi-country analysis of demographic and health surveys

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

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