Norplant implants in Ethiopia

This is a cross-sectional study involving 364 clients who have had Norplant implants insertion for contraception at the Gandhi Memorial Hospital (GMH) during the second half of 1994. It was part of the pilot project designed to introduce Norplant in Ethiopia after evaluating the safety, efficacy, tolerance, acceptability and reversibility of the method. The vast majority of the clients were found to be married, housewives, multiparae, relatively educated, urban dwellers, Christian by faith and in their reproductive age group with a mean age of 27.9 +/- 5.7 years. A significant number of them used one or more types of contraceptive methods prior to their switch to Norplant (P < 0.05). A third of the patients were lactating at the time of the Norplant insertion. The time taken to insert the implants was 12.5 +/- 4.3 minutes. The mean duration since the insertion is computed to be 25.3 +/- 4.2 months. Their main source of information was from the medical personnel. The acceptability and continuation rate of the method was 93.9% and 95.1%, respectively. The fertility-reversibility among those who desired to have childbirth was achieved in 72.3% and 84.1% at one and two years, respectively. Adverse effects of Norplant were registered in a quarter of the study population and included abnormal menstruation, headache, weight changes and pain at the site of implantation. These were not influenced by age, body weight, parity, duration of usage of the method, blood pressure patterns and previous use of contraception (P > 0.05). We have not encountered any method failure in the last 30 months. The study concludes that Norplant is safe, effective, acceptable, and reversible long-term birth control method which can be used in our setting in parallel with other available options.