Drivers of Unmet Need for Family Planning among Women of Advanced Reproductive Age in Urban Western Africa

Abstract

Studies have examined unmet need for family planning among urban women in a num- ber of countries, but women of advanced reproductive age have not been explicitly exam- ined. This chapter examined drivers of unmet need for family planning among urban women of advanced reproductive age in selected West African countries. Data were extracted from individual recode of the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) implemented in the selected countries. The study analysed weighted sample sizes of 800 women in Guinea, 4928 women in Nigeria and 1253 women in the Gambia. The outcome variable was unmet need for family planning. Key explanatory variables are sets of individual and community characteristics. Three multilevel logistic regression models were fitted using Stata 12. Results showed that among urban women of advanced repro- ductive age, unmet need for limiting was dominant. Results further revealed that individ- ual and community characteristics significantly drive variations in unmet need for family planning in the studied countries. Urban interventions to reduce unmet need for family planning in West African countries should target women of advanced reproductive age