Unintended pregnancy among currently pregnant maried women in Nepal
BASTOLA, KALPANA (2013)
2013
Kansanterveystiede - Public Health
Terveystieteiden yksikkö - School of Health Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2013-10-28
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201310301547
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201310301547
Tiivistelmä
Background: Unintended pregnancy has been the issue for almost every woman irrespective of the place of residence and the level of development of the country. The consequences of unintended pregnancy are very severe for both the children and mothers socially, physically and psychologically. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of unintended pregnancy and factors associated with it among currently pregnant married women of Nepal.
Methods: The data for this study was taken from Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2011which is a nationally representative cross sectional survey. The survey was conducted among all the women in the reproductive age group (15-49years). However, the present analysis is restricted to currently pregnant married women at the time of survey (N=798). A pregnancy was defined as unintended if the current pregnancy was mistimed or unwanted. The associations of unintended pregnancy with socio demographic variables were assessed by Chi-Square tests. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the bivariate and multivariate association of unintended pregnancy with all the socio demographic variables.
Results: Most (92 %) of the women were from rural area and had no education (67 %) whereas nearly 60 percent of them depend on agriculture as their main occupation. More than half (54.5 %) of the currently pregnant women reported that their current pregnancy was unintended. The final results indicate that older and educated women were less likely to experience unintended pregnancies. Unintended pregnancies were more common among women who were from poorer household (OR 4.83, 95% CI 2.64-8.86), women having more than two children (OR 6.15, 95 % CI 3.66-10.33) or women with the history of terminated pregnancy (OR 2.85, 95 % CI 1.70-4.70).
Conclusion: More than half of the pregnancies are unintended in Nepal which is already a serious issue. Consequences of unintended pregnancies affects throughout the life of mother and child. As the results reveals that younger and uneducated women, women with more than two children and women having the history of terminated pregnancy were more vulnerable to unintended pregnancy. Therefore, programs and policies should aim at these women to reduce unintended pregnancy.
Methods: The data for this study was taken from Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2011which is a nationally representative cross sectional survey. The survey was conducted among all the women in the reproductive age group (15-49years). However, the present analysis is restricted to currently pregnant married women at the time of survey (N=798). A pregnancy was defined as unintended if the current pregnancy was mistimed or unwanted. The associations of unintended pregnancy with socio demographic variables were assessed by Chi-Square tests. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the bivariate and multivariate association of unintended pregnancy with all the socio demographic variables.
Results: Most (92 %) of the women were from rural area and had no education (67 %) whereas nearly 60 percent of them depend on agriculture as their main occupation. More than half (54.5 %) of the currently pregnant women reported that their current pregnancy was unintended. The final results indicate that older and educated women were less likely to experience unintended pregnancies. Unintended pregnancies were more common among women who were from poorer household (OR 4.83, 95% CI 2.64-8.86), women having more than two children (OR 6.15, 95 % CI 3.66-10.33) or women with the history of terminated pregnancy (OR 2.85, 95 % CI 1.70-4.70).
Conclusion: More than half of the pregnancies are unintended in Nepal which is already a serious issue. Consequences of unintended pregnancies affects throughout the life of mother and child. As the results reveals that younger and uneducated women, women with more than two children and women having the history of terminated pregnancy were more vulnerable to unintended pregnancy. Therefore, programs and policies should aim at these women to reduce unintended pregnancy.