title: Trends in contraceptive use among female adolescents in Ghana.
abstract: Within the past one and half decades many efforts have been made to improve the availability and access to adolescent sexual and reproductive health services. Despite these efforts, adolescents still face a number of sexual and reproductive health problems. This paper uses data from the 2003 and 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys to examine changes in contraceptive use among sexually active female adolescents (15-19 years old). The results show that between 2003 and 2008 there was a significant increase in the current use of any contraceptive method (from 23.7% to 35.1%, p = 0.03). It also indicates a shift from modern to traditional contraceptive methods. Traditional methods recorded about 60% (7.8 percentage points) increase as compared to 5.5% (2.6 percentage points) for modern methods. Also ever use of any traditional method recorded a higher increase as compared to any modem method. There was a slight decline 7% (4.4 parentage points) in the number of non-users who intended to use contraceptives in the future. On the whole the findings indicate increasing unmet need for modern contraception due to barriers such as limited access, cost and misconceptions about the effects of contraceptives.
authors.affiliation: Pals Solutions P.O. Box TL 430, Tamale-Ghana. lutufus@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Lutuf
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abdul-Rahman
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marrone
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johansson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D003267:Contraception / Q000639:trends*; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000523:psychology / Q000639:trends; D003270:Contraceptive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003273:Contraceptive Devices; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D060728:Reproductive Health / Q000639:trends*; D034121:Reproductive Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003270:Contraceptive Agents