Factors Associated With Unmet Need for Family Planning Among Unmarried Women in Rwanda: A Cross Sectional Study

Rosine Bigirimana, Japheths Ogendi, Egide Freddy Muragijimana, Dieudonne Ndatimana, Amedee Fidele Ndibaza, Richard Kalisa

Abstract: While unmet need for family planning (FP) in Rwanda has decreased to 14% among married women, it remains 37% among sexually active unmarried women. Thus, factors, reasons for not using contraceptives and intentions for future use are not well documented. We aimed to assess factors associated with the unmet need for FP, reasons and intentions for the future among sexually active unmarried women in Rwanda.

Researcher-designed data abstraction form was used to conduct a secondary data analysis using Rwanda demographic and health survey (RDHS) 2019/2020 which had surveyed on 12,949 households, of whom 417 were sexually active unmarried women. Sociodemographic characteristics, reasons and intentions are presented using frequencies and percentages. Logistic regression models were fitted to identify factors associated with the unmet need for FP at 95% CI, with a probability value of ≤0.05.

Out of 417 unmarried women, 156 (37%) were with an unmet need for FP. The majority aged between 15–24 years (n=155, 37%), protestants (n=224, 54%), richer wealth index (n=105, 25%), owned medical insurance (n=320, 77%) and 264 (63%) had between one to four children. Factors associated with unmet need for FP were: being richer (aOR: 0.46; 95% CI: 0.23–0.91; p=0.025), richest wealth category (aOR= 0.435; 95% CI: 0.2091–0.905; p=0.026), multiparty (aOR: 0.23; 95% CI: 0.13–0.42; p<0.000) and nulliparous (aOR: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.11–0.59; p<0.001). Amongst the 97 women who had provided reasons for not using FP, most cited were having infrequent sex (n=46, 47.4%), nulliparous (n=11, 11.3%) and fear of side effects (n=7, 7.2%). While 73.1% (n=114) of women had the intention to use FP in future.