Access to and uptake of contraception by women with disabilities

Abstract

Contraception has been identified as an imperative for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In poor countries, the need for contraception is highest among the most vulnerable population groups. One such group is women with disabilities. The objectives of this study were to examine uptake of and identify the predictors of use of contraception by women in Uganda with disabilities. The study used cross-sectional data on 1128 sexually experienced women in the 15-49 year age group with disabilities. The data were obtained from the 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey. The binary logistic regression model was used to analyse the data. The study found that only 26.1% of the women had ever used contraception and the results confirmed the hypothesis that access to health facilities and access to family planning information on radio significantly increased uptake of contraception. Other factors that significantly increased uptake of contraception were attending 4 or more Antenatal Care (ANC) visits, being in the 25-34 year age group, living in Kampala region, having primary, secondary or higher education, being in the middle or richer wealth index groups and having almost daily access to radio. We conclude that uptake of contraception by women with disabilities is low and reflects the high unmet need for contraception for women in Uganda, which could be explained by the pervasive structural inequalities in access to contraception services.