Assessment of Emergency Oral Contraceptive Use among Female Undergraduate Students of Addis Ababa University
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Date
2016-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: - Unintended pregnancies are major public health concern in developing countries including Ethiopia. Female university students face unintended pregnancies because most of them are sexually active and exposed to unprotected sporadic premarital sexual intercourse. Emergency Contraception (EC) is a drug or a device that prevents unintended pregnancy and its consequences. Emergency Oral Contraceptives (EOC) are being increasingly used by unmarried young women to prevent unintended pregnancies following unprotected sexual intercourse. However, little is known about Emergency Oral Contraception (EOC) use among female students at higher education in Ethiopia.
Objectives: - The aim of this study was to assess the proportion of Addis Ababa University undergraduate female university students who use Emergency Oral Contraceptive (EOC)
Methods: - Institution based cross sectional descriptive study involving 635 undergraduate female students from Addis Ababa University (AAU) was done. Data was collected from January to February 2016. Study participants were selected using multi stage stratified sampling technique. Interviewer administer pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was entered into Epi info version 7 then exported to STATA version 12 for analysis. Descriptive analysis was applied to estimate the EOC use and describe the study participants.
Results: - Overall, 78.74% were in the age group of 20-24, and 4.09% were married. Of the total respondents, 22.4% and 10.7% them reported previous use of EOC at least once and repeatedly, respectively. Among those who had unprotected sexual intercourse, 97.92 % have reported ever use of EOC. Non-consensual sex (37.32%), forgetting to take contraception (14.79%) and partner pressure (35.92%) were the main reported reasons for use of EOC.
Conclusion and Recommendation: - There is very high level of EOC use among sexually active female undergraduate students who had unprotected sexual intercourse. This could be due to the fact that university students have relatively better information and access to the service. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the Federal Ministry of Health make regular contraceptive methods accessible for students in higher institutions
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Unintended pregnancies