Small but Promising Gains in Use of Modern Family Planning Methods
The Performance Monitoring and Accountability (PMA2020) project has disseminated
results of its Survey Round 1 field work, conducted in 110 enumeration area in Uganda.
Round 1 of the survey focused on the use of modern contraceptives and related indicators.
The aim of the five year project is to collect nationally representative samples of data from
households and service delivery points in selected sentinel sites, to estimate the use of
modern contraception and related indicators on an annual basis and to determine the
service availability of the family planning commodities at service delivery points.
The survey uses an innovative mobile-assisted Data and Dissemination system (mADDS).
The survey was conducted in 75 districts, which contributed the 110 enumeration areas.
According to survey results presented by Dr. Frederick Makumbi of the School of Public
Health at Makerere University College of Health Sciences, contraceptive prevalence of all
modern methods was at 27.2% as compared to 30% in the 2011 UDHS findings. Comparing
use of modern contraception and traditional methods, the findings stand at 25.6% and
1.6%; the 2011 UDHS has 4.0% for traditional methods.
Unmet need for contraception went down by 3 points from 64.3% (UDHS 2011) to 61.8%.
However, despite this decrease, generally unmet need still remains high for married and
unmarried users of reproductive age.
It is also good news for planners and policy makers in the areas of reproductive health; the
survey findings indicate that the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declined from 6.2 to 5.9. The
only dark spot on this is the increase in adolescent birth rates and unintended recent
births.
In terms of use of
individual
methods,
condom use was higher
among unmarried, sexually
active contraceptive users
as compared to the
married.
Injectables
contributed the highest
used method, where there
was remarkable increase
registered. Other methods
that registered increase
are IUDs, and inplants.
Elaborating on the design
and background of the
survey, Scot Radloff, Project Director PMA2020 Johns Hopkin, said the survey is consistent
with UDHS measures, uses innovative mobile technology, provides annual indicators of
progress and introduces new indicators of quality, choices and access.
He said the survey design also creates community feedback loop for programme
improvement, while the use of mobile-assisted data collection reduces data collection
errors and feedback delays.
Scot Radloff explaining how the
mobile-assisted data collection
works
Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, the Regional Director Partners in Population and Development
Africa Regional Office (PPDARO) was happy to note that the use of traditional methods
seems to be going down, although the decrease was not reflected in the use of modern
methods.
He called upon stakeholders to work harder since the reproductive age group population is
growing bigger every year.
Closing the dissemination event, the Executive Director Uganda Bureau of Statistics Mr. Ben
Mungyereza said he is confident of the consistency in methodology, so the result in change
is because of actual change in society. He said while there is a lot of talk on improving
service delivery, measuring it has become a nightmare.
He said achieving population growth dividend can only happen with investment in the right
family planning method.
Comparing the two surveys, he said, getting annual figures and getting them quickly is good
for planning since the UDHS is conducted every five years. “The next UDHS is coming soon
and this puts us in good position to compare. We should now be talking about implications
of these data to policy and the Members of Parliament present should take the issues up”,
he said.
Mr. Mungyereza closing the dissemination event
However, one Member of Parliament pointed out that even some women MPs do not use
modern family planning methods because many do not believe in them, while some male
MPs discourage their partners from using modern family planning methods.
The dissemination event was attended by
stakeholders of different categories,
including Members of Parliament, civil
society organisations, academics, and
development partners.