CONTRACEPTIVE FAILURE RATE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN HARARI REGION, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Background: Happening of pregnancy while a woman is using a contraceptive is termed as Contraceptive failure. It is a major source of unintended pregnancy, in most cases associated with typical inconsistent and/or incorrect use of methods. In 2012,30% of unintended pregnancy was resulted from contraceptive failure. In Harari Region, majority of users constitute methods with intermediate and higher failure rates (Injectable 12.6 % & pills 5%) respectively. As a result, significant contraceptive failure rate & associated factors to be addressed were the key concerns. Objective: to assess level of contraceptive failure and associated factors among pregnant women in Harari Region, 2018. Method: Institution based cross sectional study design was used. A Sample of 1250 study participants were selected from pregnant women who were using contraceptives prior to their current pregnancy and visited health facilities. Data was collected using structured questionnaire. It was entered into EPI Data version 3 and was exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics was performed to assess the frequency and percentage of the variables. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression model was used to assess the association between the outcome and independent variables. Result: The level of contraceptive failure was 10.3%. There was a strong association between contraceptive failure and behavior while on use. Inconsistent use of contraceptive showed very strong association with contraceptive failure that women with such behavior were 4 times in higher risk of getting it (AOR = 3.73, (95% CI 2.00 - 6.94). Similarly, duration of use of participants who were using contraceptives 1 to 3 years showed 2 times higher risk of facing contraceptive failure (AOR = 2.16, (95% CI 1.14 - 4.07). Conclusion and recommendation: The level of contraceptive failure in Harari region is significant and high. Inconsistent and incorrect use and duration of use were found to have the strongest association. Harari regional health bureau should give due attention on action to reduce the burden of contraceptive level at least to the national level. Health facilities should capacitate family planning service providers including those who work in private pharmacies and drug vendors on the place of user focused quality counselling on behavior of users to reduce failure of contraceptives most importantly on user dependent methods.