New survey results released by Performance Monitoring and Accountability (PMA) Uganda has revealed that more women and girls of reproductive age group are embracing contraception. This ground-breaking result comes at a time when Uganda seeks to increase modern contraception prevalence/uptake to 50%
Between September and November last year, Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH-PMA project) led by Principal Investigator Dr. Fredrick Makumbi and Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Simon Peter Kibira conducted this survey from 4,399 households where 4,346 females of ages 15-49 were interviewed. As a result, data was collected in 384 health facilities and 2,370 client-exit interviews were conducted.
PMA Results on Contraception Use
According to the results, the trends in the use of Contraception among all women of age 15-49 increased from 35% in 2020 to 40% in 2021 in all methods.
Furthermore, those using modern methods of contraception increased from 29.5% to 34% while those using traditional methods of birth control rose slightly from 5.5% in 2021 to 5.9%.
These findings correlate with the latest Urban Thrive Project (UTP) baseline survey report about the coverage and uptake of Family planning in Iganga Municipality and Jinja city.
UTP Household Survey
According to the UTP household survey conducted in 2021, 69.8% of participants reported having ever used family planning.
Despite the gradual rise in family planning uptake, Mr. Moses Kyangwa, the CEO of Busoga Health Forum while at a UTP Workshop (February 2022) said there’s a need for more sensitization to increase voluntary family planning in the Busoga region.
Dr. Chris Ebong, a Senior Medical Officer Ministry of Health in his remarks noted that failure to use family planning has also led to maternal mortality. “We are still losing mothers and children in Uganda as a result of not using Family Planning services and others have a misconception about it.” He added.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) report, contraceptives use in Uganda remains low among married women at 39%; and a high unmet need for family planning (FP) persists among sexually active women.
At the same event, Prof Peter Waiswa, the Urban Thrive Project- Principal Investigator emphasized the importance of prioritizing leadership in influencing mindset change, especially the negative attitude towards family planning among the community members. “To increase Voluntary Family Planning leaders at all levels must be included since they are opinion leaders and influencers.” Prof Peter Waiswa added.
About UTP
The project is funded by the John Templeton Foundation to increase the uptake of Voluntary Family Planning in emergent towns and cities.
The project also seeks to enhance knowledge and understanding of VFP, strengthen FP service delivery and governance capacity and it is being implemented by a collaboration between Makerere University School of Public Health and the Busoga Health Forum.