Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T05:02:41.889Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

TRACKING CHANGES IN STATES OF CONTRACEPTIVE USE OVER TIME IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA THROUGH COHORT AND PERIOD ANALYSES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2014

ELIZABETH LEAHY MADSEN*
Affiliation:
Futures Group, Washington DC, USA
BERNICE KUANG
Affiliation:
Futures Group, Washington DC, USA
JOHN ROSS
Affiliation:
Futures Group, Washington DC, USA
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Summary

It is difficult to gauge the success of programmatic efforts to reduce unmet need for contraception without knowing whether individual women have had their need met and adopted contraception. However, the number of true longitudinal datasets tracking the transition of panels of individual women in and out of states of contraceptive use is limited. This study analyses changes in contraceptive use states using Demographic and Health Survey data for 22 sub-Saharan African countries. A cohort approach, tracking representative samples of five-year age groups longitudinally across surveys, as well as period-based techniques, are applied to indicate whether new users of contraception have been drawn from women who previously had no need and/or those who had unmet need for family planning. The results suggest that a greater proportion of increases in contraceptive use in recent years can be attributed to decreases in the percentage of women with no need, especially among younger women, than to decreases in the proportion with unmet need.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ali, M. M., Cleland, J. & Shah, I. H. (2012) Causes and Consequences of Contraceptive Discontinuation: Evidence from 60 Demographic and Health Surveys. World Health Organization, Geneva.Google Scholar
Alkema, L., Kantorova, V., Menozzi, C. & Biddlecom, A. (2013) National, regional, and global rates and trends in contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning between 1990 and 2015: a systematic and comprehensive analysis. The Lancet, 12th March 2013.Google Scholar
Bradley, S. E. K., Croft, T. N. & Fishel, J. D. (2012) Revising unmet need for family planning. DHS Analytical Studies, No. 25. ICF International, Calverton, MD.Google Scholar
Casterline, J. B., El-Zanaty, F. & El-Zeini, L. O. (2003) Unmet need and unintended fertility: longitudinal evidence from Upper Egypt. International Family Planning Perspectives 29(4), 158166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cleland, J. G., Ndugwa, R. P. & Zulu, E. M. (2011) Family planning in sub-Saharan Africa: progress or stagnation? Bulletin of the World Health Organization 89, 137143.Google Scholar
Curtis, S. L. & Westoff, C. F. (1996) Intention to use contraceptives and subsequent contraceptive behavior in Morocco. Studies in Family Planning 27(5), 239250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deaton, A. (1985) Panel data from time series of cross-sections. Journal of Econometrics 30, 109126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Islam, M. M. & Bairagi, R. (2003) Fertility intentions and subsequent fertility behavior in Matlab: do fertility intentions matter? Journal of Biosocial Science 35(4), 615619.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaneda, T., Hagey, J., Smith, R. & Baldwin, W. (2013) Unpacking unmet need: reproductive health transitions. Presented at XXVII International Union for the Scientific Study of Population International Population Conference, Busan, Korea, 30th August 2013.Google Scholar
Kodzi, I. A., Johnson, D. R. & Casterline, J. B. (2010) Examining the predictive value of fertility preferences among Ghanaian women. Demographic Research 22, 965984.Google Scholar
Reboussin, D., DaVanzo, J., Starbird, E., Boon Ann, T. & Abdullah, S. H. (1987) Contraceptive Method Switching Over Women's Reproductive Careers. RAND, Santa Monica, CA.Google Scholar
Ross, J. A., Wardlaw, T. M., Huber, D. H. & Hong, S. (1987) Cohort trends in sterilization: some international comparisons. International Family Planning Perspectives 13(2), 5260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, S. & Darroch, J. E. (2012) Adding It Up: Costs and Benefits of Contraceptive Services – Estimates for 2012. Guttmacher Institute and United Nations Population Fund, New York.Google Scholar
Van Lith, L. M., Yahner, M. & Bakamjian, L. (2013) Women's growing desire to limit births in sub-Saharan Africa: meeting the challenge. Global Health: Science and Practice 1(1), 97107.Google Scholar
Westoff, C. (2012) Unmet need for modern contraceptive methods. DHS Analytical Studies, No. 28. ICF International, Calverton, MD.Google Scholar
Westoff, C. F. & Bankole, A. (1998) The time dynamics of unmet need: an example from Morocco. International Family Planning Perspectives 24(1), 1214.Google Scholar