Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #105763

Dominique Meekers, PhD, International Health and Development, Tulane University, 1440 Canal St. Suite 2200, New Orleans, LA 70112, 504-585-6157, dmeekers@tulane.edu and Fumihiko Yokota, MPH, Department of International Health and Development, Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal Street Suite 2200, New Orleans, LA 70112.

Objectives: Several communication programs aim to encourage Egyptian women to start using family planning during the early stages of their family life cycle. This study examines the impact of family planning communication on the likelihood that women initiate family planning use before they have two children.

Data and Methods: We use data from the 2000 Demographic and Health Survey, which contains data on married women aged 15-49. Logistic regression is used to assess the net effect of exposure to family planning communication on the likelihood that a woman initiates family planning use before reaching parity two.

Results: While only 0.2% of women reported using family planning before having their first child, 35% reported doing so before reaching parity two. The percentage of women reporting family planning use before parity two increases from 24% among those with low family planning communication exposure to 46% among those with high exposure. Logistic regression confirms that this effect of exposure to family planning communication on early initiation of family planning persists after controls for socio-economic and demographic factors. After controls, women with medium and high communication exposure were over 20% more likely than those not exposed to report using family planning before reaching parity two (OR=1.21; p<0.01 for medium exposure; OR=1.27, p<0.001 for high exposure).

Conclusions: Exposure to family planning communication messages has a significant net impact on the early initiation of family planning among Egyptian women. Higher levels of exposure appear to be associated with an increased likelihood of early initiation of family planning. While using family planning before the birth of the first child is not culturally acceptable, family planning communication campaigns can effective at encouraging women to adopt family planning as soon as they have given birth to their first-born child.

Statement of Purpose: Since it is not culturally acceptable for Egyptian women to use family planning before the birth of their first child, it is important to assess the factors that affect the likelihood that women will start using family planning upon having their first child. Such early initiation of family planning enables women to better space their birth and to better plan their desired family size.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the learner will be able to

• Describe the level of family planning use before parity one and parity two among Egyptian women, and
• Discuss the impact of the exposure to family planning communication on the early initiation of family planning.

Keywords: Communication Effects, Family Planning

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.