The public-sector family planning program impact scores in association with long-acting reversible contraceptive use among young women in 22 Sub-Saharan African countries: A pooled multi-level analysis

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of public-sector family planning program impact scores and other country-level factors on LARC use among young women aged 15 to 24. Study design: We conducted this research using a large population database covering several decades' worth of multi-wave cross-sectional samples of the demographic health survey (DHS) and the World Bank website data. We carried out a multi-level analysis on data from 1990 to 2019 from 22 Sub-Saharan African countries, with 163,242 participants. Results: We found LARC use was at 3.1% of all young women under study. Sierra Leone, 2019 survey had the highest LARC use at 21,961 per 100,000. A 10% increase in public-sector family planning program impact scores was positively associated with LARC use with odds ratio of 1.44, 95% CI, 1.43-1.45). We also noted that a 1% increase in HIV prevalence was associated with a reduced odds ratio of LARC use at 0.75 (95% CI, 0.70-0.81). Conclusions: Findings from this study provide empirical evidence highlighting the importance of country-level factors in influencing LARC use among young women in sub-Saharan Africa (C) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study conducted a multi-level analysis to evaluate the impact of public-sector family planning program scores and other country-level factors on LARC use among young women aged 15 to 24. The results showed that the LARC use rate among the young women under study was 3.1%. An increase in public-sector family planning program scores was positively associated with LARC use, while an increase in HIV prevalence was negatively associated with LARC use.