Contraceptive prevalence, prevalence of unmet need for family planning and its correlates among ever married females of 15-49 years age group in Kalutara District, Sri Lanka in 2010

Abstract

Background: Correct use of modern contraceptives remains the most effective method of reducing unmet need and avoiding unplanned pregnancies and their consequences. Objective: To determine the contraceptive prevalence, prevalence of unmet need for family planning and its correlates among 15 – 49-year-old ever married women in the district of Kalutara, Sri Lanka. Method: A community based descriptive cross sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of family planning and unmet need for family planning among 1200 ever married females in 15-49 age group, selected by cluster sampling technique.  Correlates of unmet need were assessed by case control analysis which included bivariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results: Overall contraceptive prevalence was 69.4% (95%CI: 66.1-72.7) with a prevalence of 60.5% (95%CI: 51.9-69.1) for modern methods and 8.9% (95%CI: 3.3-14.5) for natural & traditional methods. Prevalence of unmet need was 9.4 % (95%CI: 7.7-11.1) with 1.5 % (95%CI: 0.79-2.2) for spacing and 7.9% (95%CI: 6.3-9.5) for limiting. Unmet need for modern methods was 18.7% (95%CI: 16.1 - 20.6). High risk of unmet need was found to be associated significantly with age above 35 years, education below grade 05, unemployment, less frequent sex, not willing to use modern methods in future and lack of counseling services. Conclusions: Although contraceptive prevalence is high in Kalutara district, existence of high prevalence of unmet need and the risk associated with poorly educated, unemployed women in older age groups indicates the need of a specific programme to prevent unwanted pregnancies.