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

Abstract #114901

Rachel Sanders, MPP, Thomas Goliber, PhD, William Winfrey, PhD, and Norine Jewell, JD, MPH. Futures Group, 1 Thomas Circle, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005, 202-775-9680, tgoliber@futuresgroup.com

Unmet need for family planning remains high across West Africa, ranging from 17% in Nigeria to 35% in Senegal. Governments of West African countries would benefit by meeting this need, since success would mean increased ability to meet social and development goals, improved health status for their citizens, and the promotion of individual rights. Secondary analysis was performed on Demographic and Health Surveys from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo to build a more complete picture of the socioeconomic status, location, and concerns of those reporting unmet need for family planning. This analysis found considerable variation across countries. For example, 60-61% of women in Benin and Ghana who wish to limit their future births reported their reason for not using contraception in the future was health concerns or fear of side effects, while in Nigeria and Guinea only 25-26% of women cited these concerns as a reason for not using in the future. Variations also exist in preferred method; in Niger, 34% of women who plan to use contraception in the future prefer injections, while in Guinea this number rises to 52%. These differences indicate that country programs need to consider the unique characteristics and concerns of their target population in order to design programs which are effective in reducing unmet need for family planning. This paper consists of country specific discussions which cover the outcomes of the secondary analysis and address potential programmatic and policy responses to the results.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Identify characteristics of the population with unmet need which should be considered in country level program design.
• Discuss how those characteristics should influence family planning program design.
• Identify policy or program initiatives which would improve a country program's ability to lower unmet need in the country or district under consideration.

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.