Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

The male condom was reported to be the most commonly used method among currently marriedmen with about half of currently married men (51 percent) having used withdrawal at some time. Amongsexually active unmarried men, a large majority (70 percent) have used male condoms, while only 14percent have ever used natural family planning.5.3 CURRENT USE OF CONTRACEPTIVE METHODSThe level of current use of contraceptive methods is one of the indicators most frequently used toassess the success of family planning programme activities. It is also widely used as a measure inanalysing the determinants of fertility. This section focuses on the levels and differentials in current use offamily planning.Table 5.4 shows the percent distribution of women who are currently using specific familyplanning methods by age. One in four women are currently using any contraceptive method. The use ofany contraceptive method increases with age, reaching its peak at age group 30-34 (38 percent) and thenstarts to decline. Modern methods are used by 17 percent of women, while only 8 percent are usingtraditional methods. The pill is the most commonly used method (8 percent) and the IUD, implant,female condom, and diaphragm/foam/jelly are the least used modern methods (less than 1 percent each).Four percent of women report using condoms, virtually all male condoms. Of the traditional methods,withdrawal is the most commonly used (3 percent) while natural family planning is the least used (1percent).Among currently married women, the pill (12 percent) and withdrawal (5 percent) are the mostcommonly used modern and traditional methods, respectively. After the condom (15 percent), the mostcommonly used modern method among sexually active unmarried women is the pill (10 percent), whilewithdrawal (2 percent) is the most widely used traditional method. More sexually active unmarriedwomen use a modern contraceptive method than currently married women (29 percent and 23 percent,respectively). This difference may be due to higher use of male condoms by sexually active unmarriedwomen (15 percent) than currently married women (4 percent).Current use of contraception among women has increased from 19 percent in 1996 to 25 percentin 2001-2002. Use of modern methods has increased from 11 percent to 17 percent, while use oftraditional methods has remained unchanged at 8 percent.74 │ Fertility Regulation