A Fresh Look at the Level of Unmet Need for Family Planning in the Postpartum Period, Its Causes And Program Implications

The authors' aims are to reassess the level of postpartum unmet need with different methods of measurement, compare unmet need in the first year following childbirth with unmet need at later durations postpartum and to analyze reasons for postpartum unmet need. Defining unmet need in postpartum...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International perspectives on sexual and reproductive health 2015-09, Vol.41 (3), p.155-162
Main Authors: Cleland, John, Shah, Iqbal H., Benova, Lenka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
Amenorrhea
Birth control
Birth Intervals
Breast Feeding
Breastfeeding lactation
Caribbean Region
Childbirth
Children youth
COMMENT
Contraception
Contraception - methods
Contraception - utilization
Contraception Behavior - psychology
Contraceptives, Oral - therapeutic use
Developing Countries
Families family life
Family planning
Family Planning Services - methods
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health Services Needs and Demand
Hemophilia
Humans
Latin America
Methods
Oral contraceptives
Postpartum period
Postpartum Period - physiology
Postpartum Period - psychology
Pregnancy
Puerperium
Qualitative analysis
Sex Education
Social aspects
Women
Women's health
Womens health
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Summary:The authors' aims are to reassess the level of postpartum unmet need with different methods of measurement, compare unmet need in the first year following childbirth with unmet need at later durations postpartum and to analyze reasons for postpartum unmet need. Defining unmet need in postpartum women encounters the problem that many are wholly or partially protected by lactational amenorrhea or postnatal abstinence and thus have a reason to postpone contraception regardless of their future childbearing wishes. The standard DHS solution is to classify amenorrheic women according to the intendedness of their most recent birth. As already established, unmet need is very low in the first year postpartum under the current-status definition, which classifies amenorrheic and abstaining women as having no need. What sets family planning provision in the postpartum period apart from provision at other phases of the reproductive cycle is the degree of protection afforded by breastfeeding and, in a minority of countries, prolonged sexual abstinence.
ISSN:1944-0391
1944-0405
DOI:10.1363/4115515