Intimate partner violence and unmet need for family planning in Afghan women: the implication for policy and practice

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a serious public health issue and has been linked to a range of adverse health outcomes. This study explored the prevalence of IPV and its relationship with the unmet need for family planning among a sample of married Afghan women aged 18-49 years.

This study used the data from Afghanistan Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in 2015. The data relating to IPV, unmet need for family planning, and sociodemographic characteristics of Afghan women aged 18-49 (n = 20,593) were extracted and analyzed accounting for the sampling weights and survey design in bivariate and multivariate analyses using the STATA software version 14.

An estimated 55.89% experienced some type of IPV during the last 12 months. Unmet need for family planning was documented in less than a third of the population. Illiterate employed women from poorer families who were living in the rural areas were more likely to suffer from any type of IPV. Moreover, those from Pashtun, Tajik, and Pashai ethnic groups had a higher odds of any type of violence compared to the reference group (Turkmen). Illiterate women (OR = 1.37, 95% CI 1.02-1.83) with more than 5 pregnancy experiences (OR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.19-1.74) had more unmet needs for family planning compared to the reference group. The unmet needs were almost 40% and 30% less likely to be observed among women from Pashtun and Tajik ethnic backgrounds compared to the reference group (Turkmen), respectively. The likelihood of having unmet needs was 30% less in those women who suffered from any type of violence.

IPV is an important predictor of several adverse health outcomes. The findings portray the disastrous situation of Afghan women's rights violation and violence against them and communicate an important message to the international communities and human rights advocate to take immediate actions in order to mitigate the current situation and prevent the violence against Afghan women to improve the integrity of their reproductive health.