Abstract:
Introduction: High fertility rate causes rapid population growth which has many and complex effects on economic development at the household level, at the community level and national level. It has an enormous stress on the physical environment destruction. The only way to control this high fertility rate is through the use of contraceptive methods. This has to be involved not only women but also men and youth. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with adherence to the family planning Program among married women in Rwanda Methodology: This was a nationally representative cross sectional study that used secondary data analysis of the Rwanda Demography and Health Survey (RDHS 2014/15). Results: The results from this study revealed contraceptive prevalence rate among married women is 52.7%. We found that principal factors positively contributing adherence to family planning were education level (OR: 1.19 p value: 0.032), know how to deal with side effects (OR: 2.4, p value: 0.000), know of family planning methods in different channels (OR: 1.73, p value: 0.043). We also found that cohabitating the more time couples are cohabitating the less they use contraceptive methods, the same applies to decision making on contraceptive use, when a woman or a partner takes decision alone it reduces the contraceptive adherence with (OR:0.073 , p value0.000) and (OR: 053, p value: 0.000) respectively. Conclusion: The contraceptive prevalence rate among married women is relatively low comparing to the national level that targets of 70% in 2016, knowledge of contraceptive methods in different ways and educational level were positively associated with contraceptive method use. Taking decision about contraceptive use alone among couples and cohabitation duration were negatively associated with contraceptive use among married women.
