Prevalence and determinants of contraceptive use among women in rural communities in Eastern region of Ghana

Abstract Background Despite the importance of contraceptives in reducing unwanted pregnancy and other related maternal morbidity and mortality, contraceptive usage is very low among women in their reproductive ages. In Ghana, there is an increase in contraceptive use for traditional and modern methods in rural areas. However, there is a paucity of studies examining the factors associated with any contraceptive method in the rural Eastern region of Ghana. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the prevalence and determinants of current use of any contraceptive method among women of reproductive age in the rural Eastern Region of Ghana. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among women of reproductive age in the rural Eastern region of Ghana. A structured questionnaire was used to interview rural women in Lower Manya and Upper Manya Krobo districts of Eastern region who were selected using a simple random sampling technique. The data were analysed using Stata version 16. A Binary logistic regression was used to examine the determinants of current use of any contraceptive use (traditional and modern methods). Results The prevalence of contraceptive use was 27.8%. From the unadjusted analyses, age (p = 0.001), marital status (p = 0.087), desire for another child (p = 0.089) and head of household (p = 0.013) were independently associated with contraceptive use. In the adjusted analysis, contraceptive use was significantly higher among respondents aged 18–35 years (aOR:3.27; 95%CI:1.46–7.34;p = 0.004) or 36–40 years (aOR:2.14;95%CI:0.97–4.71;p = 0.049), husbands/partners who were head of households (aOR:3.40; 95%CI: 0.96–12.10; p = 0.028) compared with those aged 41–49 years and respondents who were head of households respectively. Contraceptive use was significantly lower among migrants (aOR:0.59; 95%CI:0.31–1.09; p = 0.036) compared with non-migrant. Conclusion This study highlights the factors associated with contraceptive use and the need to improve campaigns and educate rural women on contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancy and space birth. Family planning programs should target young women, non-migrants and male-headed households to design an intervention to increase contraceptive use in rural areas.