Barriers to contraceptive utilization among Reproductive Age Women of Eritrean Refugee in North West Tigray, Ethiopia: a mixed study

Abstract

<title>Abstract</title> Universal access to family planning could prevent nearly one-third of the estimated 300,000 maternal deaths. Contraceptive utilization is low in humanitarian settings. Currently, there is a dearth of information on the use of contraceptives among refugee women in many low-income countries including the study area. A community based cross sectional study with qualitative data was employed from January 1 to February 1, 2017. Systematic and purposive sampling techniques were applied. Data was entered to Epi Info version 3.3.2 and transported to SPSS version 20.0 software for analysis. Significance was declared at p-value of &lt; 0.05. Odds ratio along with 95% confidence interval was computed to ascertain the strength of the association. Among the 532 respondents who experienced sex, 192(36.1%) were using contraceptive method. Exposure to media (AOR = 2.207, 95% CI = 1.244, 3.917), residence (AOR = 2.593, 95% CI = 1.513, 4.444), discussion on reproductive goals (AOR = 2.817, 95% CI = 1.681, 4.721) and longer duration stay in camp (AOR = .4.065, 95% CI = 1.845, 8.956, AOR = 2.200, 95% CI = 1.084, 4.466) were significant factors. Prevalence of contraceptive utilization in refugees was low. A lot of obstructing factors to access the service were identified in this study. This gap will intensify the existing maternal and child mortality dire in refugee settings.