WEALTH RELATED INEQUALITIES AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS IN FAMILY PLANNING UTILIZATION AMONG MARRIED REPRODUCTIVE AGE GROUP WOMEN IN ETHIOPIA: EVIDENCE OF 2016 EDHS

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Globally, 74 million women living in low and middle-income countries have unintended pregnancies annually. Family planning plays a significant role to reduce unintended pregnancies, maternal, and child mortality. The utilization of contraceptives remains low in Sub-Saharan Africa with a wide gap between the poor and the better off. In Ethiopia, only 20% of women in the first quintile and 47% of the women in the fifth quintile utilized modern family planning respectively. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the wealth-related inequalities and associated factors in family planning utilization among married reproductive age group women in Ethiopia, using EDHS 2016. Methods: Secondary data analysis from a population-based cross-sectional study conducted in 2016 in Ethiopia was used. The data was extracted and analyzed through STATA 14. The concentration curve and concentration index were used for measuring the wealth-related inequalities in family planning utilization. To quantify factors contributing to inequalities in family planning utilization decomposition of concentration index analysis was done. Results : Modern contraceptive utilization was 35%.The concentration indices indicated significant wealth-related inequalities, for modern family planning utilization (CI: 0.21, P-value<0.01).Concentration curves portrayed pro-rich distributions of modern family planning services. The largest contributions for the observed wealthbased

inequality in modern family planning utilization were attributable to total children ever born (84.24%), household wealth index (40.44%), employment status (13.86%), visited by family planning worker (8.06%), told of family planning at a health facility (5.89%), region (4.7%), and women education (2.48%). Conclusions: Compared to the target set by the Ministry of Health the level of modern family planning service utilization is low. Besides, the study indicated Prorich

inequalities in modern family planning service utilization. Thus, strategically targeting determinants would be essential for improving inequalities in modern family planning service utilization among married women in the reproductive age group. Keywords: Family planning use, Women, Concentration index, Decomposition.