Family Planning in Asia and the Pacific - International Council on ...

TableTable9Percentage of reasons for lack of <strong>in</strong>tention to use contraception <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> future among currentlymarried women who are not currently us<strong>in</strong>g contraception, selected <strong>Pacific</strong> isl<strong>and</strong> countriesCategory/reasonsTuvalu2007Nauru2007MarshallIsl<strong>and</strong>s2007SolomonIsl<strong>and</strong>s2007Samoa2009Kiribati2008Papua NewGu<strong>in</strong>ea2006Unable (a)Lack of knowledge/knows no 0.5 10.1 0.5 8.7 1.4 3.7 43.4methodAccess difficult/knows no source 0.0 2.5 0.0 4.2 0.2 0.2 6.9Too expensive/costs too much 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.5 0.0 0.6Total (a) 0.5 12.7 0.5 13.5 2.1 4.0 50.9Unwill<strong>in</strong>g (w)Religious opposition 1.6 22.8 0.0 6.1 0.5 37.1 9.6Husb<strong>and</strong>/partner opposed 5.5 1.3 1.4 3.9 2.1 5.3 4.8O<strong>the</strong>rs opposed 0.0 0.0 0.9 1.2 0.0 0.5 0.0Respondent opposed 7.7 25.3 10.3 7.5 70.2 6.9 0.0Health concerns 5.5 5.1 15.5 7.1 17.5 9.0 0.0Fear of side effects 62.1 19.0 42.7 46.4 2.1 14.6 13.8Inconvenient to use 0.5 2.5 8.9 0.3 0.0 0.5 0.0Interferes with body’s normal 9.3 6.3 3.3 3.6 3.7 3.2 0.0processTotal (w) 92.3 82.3 83.1 76.1 96.3 51.9 28.2Not specifiedO<strong>the</strong>r reasons 3.3 1.3 12.7 2.8 0.5 15.6 16.1Don’t know 3.8 2.5 1.9 7.0 1.1 1.6 4.9Miss<strong>in</strong>g/non-response 0.0 1.3 1.9 0.6 0.0 1.6 0.0Total not specified 7.1 5.1 16.4 10.4 1.6 17.2 21.0TOTAL 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0(N) (182) (79) (213) (644) (561) (377) (1,030)a/w ratio 0.01 0.15 0.01 0.18 0.02 0.07 1.80Source: DHS reports for specified countries.Note: Excludes women who are past menopause or have had a hysterectomy, have <strong>in</strong>frequent sex, are <strong>in</strong>fecund or subfecund, or wantas many children as possible. The group of women <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> table is not <strong>the</strong> same as those who currently have an unmet needfor contraception because some of <strong>the</strong> women who currently have an unmet need may <strong>in</strong>tend to use contraception <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> future,<strong>in</strong> which case <strong>the</strong>y would be excluded from this table. Women with an unmet need who do not <strong>in</strong>tend to use contraception <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>future would be <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> this table.<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> extreme isolation of many rural villages <strong>in</strong> thatcountry. To some extent <strong>the</strong>se characteristics are alsopresent <strong>in</strong> Solomon Isl<strong>and</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> this would expla<strong>in</strong> why<strong>the</strong> proportion of women cit<strong>in</strong>g lack of access as a reasonfor not us<strong>in</strong>g contraception is second highest after PapuaNew Gu<strong>in</strong>ea.In o<strong>the</strong>r countries, however, <strong>the</strong> majority of women who donot <strong>in</strong>tend to use contraception <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> future are “unwill<strong>in</strong>g”to do so because of some form of opposition (<strong>the</strong>ir own oro<strong>the</strong>rs) to family plann<strong>in</strong>g or concerns about health <strong>and</strong>side effects. In Samoa <strong>and</strong> Tuvalu, more than 90 per cent ofrespondents report <strong>the</strong>se concerns, whereas only 28.2 percent of women <strong>in</strong> Papua New Gu<strong>in</strong>ea do. The proportionof women who provide o<strong>the</strong>r (unspecified) reasons or “don’tknow” is low <strong>in</strong> Nauru, Samoa <strong>and</strong> Tuvalu, but higher <strong>in</strong><strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r countries, especially Papua New Gu<strong>in</strong>ea.The f<strong>in</strong>al row of Table 9 shows <strong>the</strong> ratio of ability/will<strong>in</strong>gness as an explanation for <strong>the</strong> lack of <strong>in</strong>tention touse contraception. In six out of <strong>the</strong> seven countries thisratio is low, show<strong>in</strong>g that unwill<strong>in</strong>gness, not <strong>in</strong>ability, is <strong>the</strong>ma<strong>in</strong> factor underly<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> unmet need for contraception,aside from fertility preferences. The exception is, as alreadynoted, Papua New Gu<strong>in</strong>ea, where difficulty of access is <strong>the</strong>ma<strong>in</strong> barrier to <strong>the</strong> use of contraception.90