High-risk birth, fertility intention, and unmet need in Addis Ababa

Abstract: In 1993 a survey was conducted to examine family planning knowledge, attitude and use in Addis Ababa. One of the objectives of the survey was to look at those women who were exposed to high-risk birth (HRB), their contraceptive behaviour and the unmet HRB need for family planning. About 88 % of the women were found to be exposed to at least one bio-demographic risk factor. Most of the women in the high risk category (70.6 %) were exposed to high parity, followed by old age (56.6 %) and closely spaced births (15.2 %). A substantial number of women falling in the too old and too many bio-demographic risk categories expressed a desire to stop childbearing compared to women at no risk. Women in the too frequent category of high-risk birth significantly expressed a desire to space the next birth for at least two years when compared to those women who were not at risk of close birth spacing. The unmet HRB need among married women was 60 % which is 10% higher than the conventional unmet need for family planning. Contraceptive prevalence among high-risk women was found to be 26% with 18% of them in need of a better family planning method. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1998;12(2):103-109