Barriers to contraceptive use among women in Benin

The Republic of Benin has made it a national priority to promote family planning as part of its efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality rates. In addition to preventing deaths, increased contraceptive use would help women and families achieve their desired number of children and have greater control over timing births. It would also help Benin meet its development goals, including reducing poverty and increasing women's education and earning levels, children's schooling and GDP per capita. Key Points. (1) Although Benin's government promotes family planning, more needs to be done to meet the country's goal of increasing contraceptive prevalence to 20% by 2018. (2) As of 2012, modern contraceptive use remains low. Only 7% of married women and 23% of unmarried sexually active women use modern methods. (3) Unmet need has increased since 2006, from 27% to 33% among married women and from 35% to 50% among sexually active unmarried women. (4) Among married women with unmet need, the most commonly cited reasons for contraceptive nonuse are fear of side effects/health concerns (22%) and opposition to use (22%). In contrast, never-married women with unmet need cite not being married (42%), infrequent or no sex (21%) and fear of side effects/health concerns (17%). (5) Among women currently using sterilization, IUDs, implants, injectables or the pill, 57% report having been told about side effects when they received their method; 88% of those who were told about side effects were given instructions on how to deal with them. (6) Strategies to increase contraceptive use include improving the availability and quality of contraceptive services, increasing knowledge of family planning, and addressing social and cultural barriers to contraception.