SOCIOECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF CONTRACEPTION AMONG MARRIED WOMEN IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Abstract

Low contraceptive uptake in the face of high fertility norms in sub-SaharanAfrica has continued to create developmental challenges in the region. This study examinedthe literature on socioeconomic determinants of contraception among married women in sub-Sahara Africa. Desk review of thirty-three (33) relevant literature extracted through GoogleScholar and key words such as socioeconomic, determinants, contraception, married women,aged 15-49 and sub-Saharan Africa was employed after filtering irrelevant articles to achievethe objective of the study. The study showed that the fertility rate is still high in the regionbecause of the low contraceptive prevalence rate. The high fertility and low contraceptive ratewill lead to population explosion and further deepen the poverty level of the region. The studyfurther showed a gradual improvement in the prevalence of contraceptives and the adoption oflong-acting reversible and nonreversible methods such as Intra-uterine devices, implants andsterilization. This will substantially reduce fertility rate and hence pave way for economicgrowth and development in the area. Moreover, the study showed that urban-rural gap incontraceptive use still subsists in the region except in situations where there are interventionprograms such as counselling of married women, distribution of family planning products forfree, payment of allowances to women who are able to reduce the number of children they bearand counselling of breastfeeding women on reproductive issues. The major factors thatdetermine contraceptive uptake are education, residence, cultural influence such as desire forchildren and son preference, misconception and erroneous beliefs about contraception. Thestudy recommends that the governments make education free and compulsory at both primaryand secondary schools especially for women. Family planning counselling should be offeredto women especially in rural areas to bridge urban-rural gap in family planning uptake.Governments in the region should educate the masses on the danger of having too manychildren as well as the benefits of family planning programs. Programme interventions thattarget married women such as tax relief and allowances to those who have fewer childrenshould be implemented to encourage contraceptive uptake in the region. In addition, policiesaim at encouraging the use of long-acting reversible and nonreversible methods such asimplants, intra-uterine device and sterilization should be implemented to