The Australian Centre for Public and Population Health Research, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Department of Population and Health, College of Humanities and Legal Studies, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
PLoS One. 2019 Aug 9;14(8):e0220970. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220970. eCollection 2019.
Approximately 14 million unintended pregnancies are recorded annually in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We sought to investigate the prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancies among women in sub-Saharan Africa.
The study pooled data from current Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2016 from 29 countries in SSA. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the factors that influence unintended pregnancies in SSA. Results were presented using odds ratios (OR).
We found overall unintended pregnancy prevalence rate of 29%, ranging from 10.8% in Nigeria to 54.5% in Namibia. As compared to women aged 15-19 years, women of all other age categories had higher odds of unintended pregnancies. Married women were 6 times more probable to report unintended pregnancy as compared to women who had never married (OR = 6.29, CI = 5.65-7.01). The phenomenon had higher odds among rural residents as compared to urban residents (OR = 1.08, CI = 1.01-1.16). Women with primary (OR = 0.74, CI = 0.69-0.80) and secondary (OR = 0.71, CI = 0.65-0.77) levels of education had less chances of unintended pregnancies, compared to those with no education. Again, women in all other wealth categories had less probability of unintended pregnancy, as compared to women with poorest wealth status.
Our study contributes substantially towards the discourse of maternal wellbeing by unveiling the prevalence and determinants of unintended pregnancy across the SSA region. There is the need for SSA countries with high prevalence of unintended pregnancies to consider past and present successful interventions of other countries within the region such as health education, counselling, skills-building, comprehensive sex education and access to contraception. Much of these efforts rest with the governments of SSA countries.
撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA）每年约有 1400 万例意外怀孕。我们试图调查撒哈拉以南非洲地区妇女意外怀孕的流行率和决定因素。
本研究汇总了 2010 年 1 月 1 日至 2016 年 12 月 31 日期间在 SSA 进行的 29 个国家的当前人口与健康调查（DHS）的数据。使用逻辑回归分析检查 SSA 中影响意外怀孕的因素。结果以优势比（OR）表示。
我们发现，SSA 的意外怀孕总流行率为 29%，范围从尼日利亚的 10.8%到纳米比亚的 54.5%。与 15-19 岁的女性相比，所有其他年龄段的女性意外怀孕的可能性更高。已婚女性意外怀孕的可能性是从未结婚女性的 6 倍（OR=6.29，CI=5.65-7.01）。与城市居民相比，农村居民的这种现象的可能性更高（OR=1.08，CI=1.01-1.16）。与没有受过教育的女性相比，具有小学（OR=0.74，CI=0.69-0.80）和中学（OR=0.71，CI=0.65-0.77）学历的女性意外怀孕的机会较少。再次，与最贫困的财富状况相比，所有其他财富类别的女性意外怀孕的可能性都较小。
我们的研究通过揭示整个 SSA 地区意外怀孕的流行率和决定因素，为孕产妇健康的讨论做出了重大贡献。意外怀孕率高的 SSA 国家需要考虑该地区其他国家过去和现在成功的干预措施，例如健康教育、咨询、技能建设、全面性教育和避孕措施的普及。这些努力在很大程度上取决于 SSA 国家的政府。
