New survey results released from Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) show that 3 out of 10 Ugandan women 15-49 years old (30%) are using modern methods of contraception. A growing proportion of both married and unmarried women are using more effective methods of contraception to delay, space, or limit births as they want.
PMA2020, led by the Makerere University’s School of Public Health in collaboration with the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBoS) and the Ministry of Health, track trends in contraceptive use and family planning service delivery in Uganda. For this most recent round of results, data collection took place between April to May 2018. PMA2020 uses mobile technology and local networks of female data collectors to generate survey data on important health indicators.
Researchers found that: among married women who are using modern contraception, injectable use makes up a large proportion of the method mix: 35% use intramuscular injectables and 11% use subcutaneous injectables. Among unmarried, sexually active modern contraceptive users, 36% use injectables and 25% use implants. A greater proportion of unmarried, sexually active women who use modern contraceptives use short-acting family planning methods: 16% use pills, 24% use male condoms, and over 9% use emergency contraception. Amongst all contraceptive users, there is an increase in use of subcutaneous injectables and implants, as well as a decrease in use of intramuscular injectables, between 2017 and 2018.
“Uganda has made improvements in use of family planning methods over the recent years,” explains Dr. Fredrick Makumbi, PMA2020 Uganda Principal Investigator, “However, there’s still work to be done to ensure all women who need family planning can access and use their methods of choice.”
The recent survey also found that although consistently decreasing over time, unmet need, which captures the percentage of sexually active women who want to avoid a pregnancy in the next two years but are not currently using contraception, is still high. Approximately one in four married women (26.0%) have unmet need for family planning; and, one in five (20.5%) of all women have unmet need.