El Khoury Ghada, Salameh Pascale
Pharmacy, Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon
Pharmacy, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
BMJ Sex Reprod Health. 2019 Aug 8. doi: 10.1136/bmjsrh-2018-200067.
Worldwide, one in three women has unmet family planning (FP) needs because of difficulties in accessing or using contraceptives. In Lebanon, information from the scientific literature on the national prevalence of contraceptive use appears scarce.
In view of this, we measured the current Lebanese national prevalence of FP methods' uptake among women and men of reproductive age, and we assessed barriers for potential unmet need.
We conducted a cross-sectional survey on a nationally representative sample of 825 married women (aged 15-49 years) and men of reproductive age (aged 18+ years). We used the validated Demographic & Health Survey (DHS) data collection tool and analysed data with SPSS Version 22.0 with p values <0.05 considered statistically significant.
We found that the current prevalence of contraceptive use is 55.6%, the unmet need is 11.4%, the total demand for FP is 67% and the percentage of satisfied demand for FP is 83%. Despite favourable knowledge of and access to FP methods as well as positive attitudes towards FP; there is a clear stagnation in the rate of contraception use over the past four decades. The identified major factors hindering the use of FP methods in Lebanon appear to be religion, age and lower educational levels.
We suggest the implementation of effective interventions at the national level to promote and encourage the uptake of modern FP methods among couples. The latter will further promote maternal and child health, as well as empower women to fulfil their equal function in society.
在全球范围内，三分之一的女性存在未满足的计划生育需求，原因是难以获取或使用避孕药具。在黎巴嫩，科学文献中关于全国避孕药具使用普及率的信息似乎很少。
鉴于此，我们测量了黎巴嫩目前育龄女性和男性中计划生育方法的采用率，并评估了潜在未满足需求的障碍。
我们对825名已婚女性（年龄在15 - 49岁之间）和育龄男性（年龄在18岁及以上）进行了一项具有全国代表性的横断面调查。我们使用经过验证的人口与健康调查（DHS）数据收集工具，并使用SPSS 22.0版本分析数据，p值<0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
我们发现目前避孕药具的使用率为55.6%，未满足的需求为11.4%，计划生育的总需求为67%，对计划生育满意需求的百分比为83%。尽管对计划生育方法有良好的认知和获取途径，以及对计划生育持积极态度；但在过去四十年中，避孕药具的使用率明显停滞不前。在黎巴嫩，阻碍使用计划生育方法的主要因素似乎是宗教、年龄和较低的教育水平。
我们建议在国家层面实施有效的干预措施，以促进和鼓励夫妇采用现代计划生育方法。这将进一步促进母婴健康，并使妇女能够在社会中发挥平等的作用。
