Abstract:
Background: Unmet need for family planning is a problem of developing countries. Meeting unmet need for family planning not only allows families to space and limit their births when desired; it can also reduce the costs of meeting the MDGs. Evidences with regard to unmet need for family planning and its associated factors are not enough in the study area. Therefore this research tried to address this gap. Objective - To assess magnitude and factors associated with unmet need for family planning among currently married women in Dangila town Administration. Methodology- A community based cross-sectional study involving quantitative method of data collection was employed in Dangila town Administration from February to March 2014. A total of 556 currently married women were proposed to be included in the study. The sample size to each participant kebele was allocated using probability proportional to size allocation considering each kebele family folder, and study participants for the interview were selected by simple random sampling. Data was collected after obtaining consent from each respondent by using a pretested structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Collected data was edited, coded, and entered to SPSS version 16.0 and then bivariate and multivariate analysis was done. Result- A total of 551 currently married women participated in the study with response rate of 99.1%. The study revealed that 17.4% of respondents had unmet need for family planning, from which 12.2% was for spacing and 5.2% was for limiting. In multivariate analysis respondent's occupation housewife/farmer [OR=6.81 (1.91-24.29)], counseling not given about FP by health workers [OR=6. 76(3.17-14.42)], partner having non-supportive attitude towards FP [OR=3.34(1.26-8.90)] and who had rural residence [OR=17.65(4.35-71.67)] were significantly associated with unmet need for family planning. The main reasons explained by non users were 32.9% less perceived risk of pregnancy due to breast feeding, 31.8%fear of side effects, 23.5% partner opposition and 11.8% religious prohibition. Conclusion and recommendation Even though proportion of unmet need is low in the study area compared to national and regional prevalence, it is also high since FP is basic right for women. So, Health care providers should properly counsel women who are breast feeding to aware well pregnancy may occur during post-partum amenorrhea. Key words:-unmet need limiting, spacing.