Demand for family planning among HIV positive women on ART: the case of South Gondar and North Wollo Zones Amhara region

BACKGROUND: Although family planning for human immune deficiency virus positive women has numerous advantages, evidences in different parts of the world showed the existence of persistent unmet need. There were few studies done in Ethiopia on level of unmet need for family planning among women in reproductive age on antiretroviral therapy (ART). This study was therefore done to determine the level of demand and unmet need for family planning among women on ART in South Gondar and North Wollo Zones, Amhara region. METHODS: Institution based cross-sectional study design was used. Data was collected from June 15 to 25, 2013 in South Gondar and North Wollo Zones. Study participants were recruited from six health centers and two hospitals. The study participants were proportionally allocated to the health institutions. Multistage sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. Trained nurses interviewed the respondents using pretested structured Amharic questionnaire. Data was entered, cleaned and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science version 16. Ratios and proportions were computed to determine demand and unmet need for family planning. RESULTS: A total of 530 women in reproductive age on ART were interviewed in this study. Two hundred ninety-three women were married. Fourteen (2.6 %) women were pregnant at the time of interview. Five of these pregnancies were not planned. In this study, 242 (45.7 %) women reported that they were using contraceptives. Most women (74.4 %) were using injectable (depo). Among those who were not using contraceptives, 84 (29.2 %) reported that they will use in the future. Fifty-two (61.9 %) of them said that they will use injectables (depo). In this study, the total demand for family planning among women on ART was 86.7 %. From this, 62.1 % and 24.6 % was met and unmet need respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that the level of demand and met need for modern contraceptives among reproductive age women on antiretroviral therapy in South Gondar and North Wollo Zones was higher than that of sexually active married women in Ethiopia. But the level of unmet need is still similar with that of sexually active married women in Ethiopia.