Assessment of Family planning use and associated factors among people living with HIV/AIDS on follow up care in health centers of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Ethiopia belongs to the heavily affected countries of Sub-Saharan Africa by HIV/AIDS, at a prevalence rate of 2.4%, an estimated of 1,216,908 people living with HIV/AIDS in 2010. Besides the dominant heterosexual transmission, vertical virus transmission from mother to child accounts for more than 90% of pediatric AIDS. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess family planning use and associated factors among people living with HIV/AIDS. Methods: An institution based cross sectional study design was employed from October 2010 to May 2011. A multi stage sampling procedure was used to select study participants. 628 PLHIV were selected using systematic random sampling technique from 10 health centers, which was first selected using simple random sampling technique from 10 Sub – cities. Data were collected using pre tested, interviewer administered questionnaire, and it was double entered and cleaned using EPI info version 3.5.1, and analyzed using SPSS Version 16.0 computer soft ware. Results: During the study time 266(43.5%) of the study participants were found to be using at least one method of FP, of which 238(89.4%) were using condom and 68(25.5%) were using injectables. Abstinence from sexual intercourse 197(54.2%) and desire for child 94(27.2%) were the major reasons mentioned for not using FP. Only 295(48.3%) of the study subjects had discussion about FP and child bearing with their service providers and most 130(48.8%) of current FP users were getting the service from FP unit. Educational status, number of alive children, time since diagnosis of HIV, having sex in the past 6 months and marital status shows statistically significant association with current family planning use (P<0.01) Conclusion and recommendations: Above half of the respondents were not using FP during the study time, of which nearly half are sexually active. And most of the non users had no discussion about FP and child bearing with their service providers. So, adequate counseling and discussion regarding issues like FP, child bearing and sexuality with fully integrated FP service in the ARV units may help in maximizing the uptake of FP methods by PLHIV.