Relationship Between Gender Equality and Husband Support in the Use of Postpartum Family Planning (PPFP)

INTRODUCTION: Postpartum family planning (PPFP) has been reported to decrease the risk of stunting by increasing the interval between pregnancies by 0.9 percent every month. In Indonesia, the prevalence of stunting affects 21.6% in 2022; however, it is expected that by 2024, the figure would drop to 14%. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to analyze the relationship between gender equality and husband support in the use of PPFP. METHODS: The study was conducted using a cross-sectional method and took place from August to October 2022. The participants comprised 210 women who had given birth in the first 4 to 12 months in Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The data was collected from women who visited the pediatrics and family planning clinics of community health centers from August to October 2022, using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using both the Chi-Square Test and Binary Logistic Regression Analysis. RESULTS: The results showed that 38.1% of the participants used PPFP. The estimated results reveal that variables such as education, husband support, gender equality, home visits, and postnatal visits (p < 0.05) influenced the implementation of postpartum contraception. While other variables such as age, occupation, income, number of children, and parity did not affect the model (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Participating in postpartum family planning requires the husband's support and gender equality. We recommend a deliberate effort on improving postnatal mothers using postpartum family planning, one of the strategies is to increase intensive outreach to pregnant women with higher education to their husbands about the importance of postpartum family planning.