Wealth-related inequalities in the utilisation of modern contraceptives in Papua New Guinea : evidence from the 2016-2018 Demographic and Health Survey data

Louis Kobina DADZIE, Mainprice Akuoko ESSUMAN, Eugene Budu, Edward Kwabena AMEYAW, Richard Gyan ABOAGYE*, Bright Opoku AHINKORAH

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the wealth-related disparities in modern contraceptives use among women in Papua New Guinea. DESIGN: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the 2016-2018 Papua New Guinea Demographic and Health Survey data. We included 11 618 women of reproductive age in our final analysis. Percentages were used to present the results on utilisation of modern contraceptives. A concentration curve was used to summarise the cumulative use of modern contraceptives by wealth index (ranked into groups: richest, richer, middle, poorer and poorest). We used a decomposition analysis to estimate the contributions of individual factors towards wealth-related inequality in modern contraceptives use. We estimated the slope index of inequality (SII) and the relative index of inequality (RII) in modern contraceptive utilisation to provide summary evidence of inequality. SETTING: Papua New Guinea. PARTICIPANTS: Women aged 15-49 years. OUTCOME MEASURE: Modern contraceptives utilisation. RESULTS: Overall, 27.5% of Papua New Guinea women used modern contraceptives. The concentration curve showed that the use of modern contraceptives was highly concentrated among women of the richest household wealth index as the concentration curve lies below the equality line. The SII (0.210, CI 0.182 to 0.239) indicates that the richest group uses more modern contraceptives. The RII depicts a relative difference of 2.044 between the richest and the poorest women in the use of modern contraceptives. CONCLUSIONS: Our study has shown that modern contraceptives use among women in Papua New Guinea is low. Women from the richest household wealth index group had the highest propensity to use modern contraceptives in comparison with those from poorer homes. The Ministry of Health and other organisations must design and carry out initiatives aimed at enhancing the availability of and use of modern contraceptives among women from less affluent backgrounds.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere085990
JournalBMJ Open
Volume14
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Oct 2024

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgment: We are grateful to MEASURE DHS for making the DHS dataset free and accessible to use for the study. We also acknowledge Abdul-Aziz Seidu for his inputs during the drafting of the manuscript and his critical review.

Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Keywords

  • Health Equity
  • Observational Study
  • Public Health

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