Background: Unintended pregnancy is an important public health challenge in many corner of the world especially in developing countries. Different efforts have been applied to reduce unintended pregnancy, but it is still increasing in Africa specifically in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the magnitude and associated factors of unintended pregnancy among pregnant women in Arba Minch town, Southern Ethiopia.
Methods: A community based cross-sectional study design was conducted from February 15th to March 11th 2015 among 288 randomly selected pregnant women. Data on demographic and other risk factors of unintended pregnancy were collected using semi-structured questionnaire. The result was analyzed by using SPSS version 20. Logistic regressions employed to assess the relationship between dependent and independent variables. Level of significance determined at p-value <5%.
Results: Magnitude of unintended pregnancy was 19.4%. This problem was affected by different factors positively or negatively. Predictor like age at first marriage ≤18 and husband refusal to use family planning were found to be positively associated with unintended pregnancy as evidenced by statistical result of [AOR=4.60 (95%CI):(2.88, 7.34)] and [AOR=3.5 (95%CI):(1.97, 6.24)] respectively. On the other hand, knowledge on family planning [AOR =0.40 (95%CI) :(0.075, 0.37)] and utilization of family planning [AOR=0.35 (95%CI): (0.20, 0.61)] were found to be protective factors for unintended pregnancy.
Conclusions: The magnitude of unintended pregnancy was relatively high in this study. Age at first marriage, husband refusal to use family planning, lack practicing family planning and knowledge about family planning were determinants of unintended pregnancy. Therefore, well-tailored family planning, and organized family discussion education program targeting both women and men should be initiated.