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Parmar, Gurkiran

University of British Columbia

Background: Northern Uganda is a post-conflict region that has one of the highest rates of adolescent pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa with 28% of girls aged 15-19 experiencing pregnancy. Aims: The objectives were to: (1) describe the availability and accessibility of family planning among girls aged 13-24 in Northern Uganda; (2) describe the availability, accessibility and barriers to antenatal care and describe the maternal health outcomes within this sample; (3) describe the factors associated with pregnancy within this sample. Methods: This thesis is a secondary analysis of data collected in 2017. The Cango Lyec cohort, established in 2011, assesses the HIV-related vulnerabilities among people aged 13-59 in Northern Uganda. A sub-study was conducted with girls aged 13-24 from this cohort in 2017, additional participants aged 13-18 were also recruited. Data was collected using comprehensive questionnaires containing sexual, reproductive and maternal health metrics. Data was collected by Ugandan researchers and was analyzed for this thesis. Single and multivariate logistic models with the outcome ‘youth pregnancy’ were built to describe factors associated with pregnancy. Independent predictor variables for the multivariate model were chosen based on conceptual reasoning, evidence from literature and significance from the simple logistic regression models. Results: There were n=235 participants, n=82 (34.9%) reported having a sexual history and n=59 (25.1%) reported experiencing a pregnancy. Among those with a sexual history, n=31 (37.8%) never accessed family planning services nor were using a method to prevent pregnancy. Among those who reported a pregnancy, n=15 (25.4%) had experienced a complication. Among those who were pregnant during data collection (n=12), 75% reported having an unintended pregnancy. Logistic regression analyses revealed that early marriage, infrequent condom use, multiple sex partners, living without biological parents and family planning service utilization were associated with higher odds of pregnancy in this sample after adjusting for confounders (p<0.05). Discussion & Conclusion: Many girls with a sexual history did not know where to find family planning services nor were using a form of contraception. This thesis emphasizes the urgent need to improve the accessibility and uptake of family planning among sexually active girls aged 13-24 in Northern Uganda.

Text

2024-07-23

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88678

Population and Public Health

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/