Assessment of Contraceptive Use and Associated Factors among HIV Positive Women in Bahir-Dar Town, Northwest Ethiopia

Mother to child HIV transmission accounts for over 95 percent of childhood infections. However, many HIV Positive women still become pregnant. Achieving the goal “HIV free generation” would only be a dream, unless a strong emphasis is given to prevention of pregnancy among HIV positive women. Therefore, we aimed to assess family planning utilization and associated factors among HIV positive women enrolled at ART program in Bahirdar town health facilities. Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted by interviewing 420 sexually active HIV positive women using systematic random sampling technique. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression methods were used to analyze utilization of contraceptives and the factors associated with it. About 80% of the study participants are using at least one type of contraceptive method at the time of study. Injection (54.7%) and condom (18.6%) are the most commonly used contraceptive methods. HIV positive women with Primary [AOR: 3.06, 95% C.I: 1.42, 6.59] and secondary [AOR: 2.35, 95% C.I: 1.08, 5.57] educational were more likely to use contraceptive. Participants who decide about contraceptive use by themselves were less likely to use contraceptive than who decides jointly with their partner [AOR: 0.29, 95% C.I: 0.14, 0.63]. Women counseled about FP by ART provider [AOR: 2.63, 95% C.I: 1.46, 4.73] and participants who have no fertility desire [AOR: 3.11, 95% C.I: 1.46, 6.64] were more likely to use contraceptive. Those who have undecided opinion about the safety of contraceptive methods [AOR: 0.23, 95% C.I: 0.10, 0.53] and women partners who have no fertility desire are less likely [AOR: 0.39, 95% C.I: 0.17, 0.91] to use contraceptive. The uptake of contraceptive use among HIV positive women is high. However, the use of most long acting contraceptive methods is still very low. Moreover, significant proportions of women have encountered pregnancy after they know their HIV status. The findings of this study highlight, FP counseling inline with effective discussion about child bearing and pregnancy issues is important in order to increase the uptake of contraceptive utilization among HIV positive women.