Factors Associated with Unmet Needs for Family Planning among People Living with HIV/AIDS in the South-South Region of Nigeria

Background: Family planning is an important part of reproductive health which assists couples and individuals to make decisions regarding the timing, spacing, as well as the number of desired children. For individuals living with HIV, this can be challenging, as assess to reproductive health services may be hampered by a range of factors, thus causing an unmet need for family planning.

Aim: To investigate the factors associated with unmet needs for family planning among people living with HIV/AIDS in the South-South Region of Nigeria.

Study Design: Facility-based cross-sectional survey.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at the HIV clinics of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa and Otuasega Cottage Hospital (OCH), Ogbia in Bayelsa state.

Methodology: Six hundred (600) participants were recruited using a simple random sampling technique. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Data obtained from the study were analyzed and presented as frequencies and percentages. Chi-square and Binary logistic regression were used to test for association between variables. Statistical significance was set at p=0.05.

Result: The response rate was 100%. The unmet family planning needs were identified in 43.5% of the study population. Duration of status awareness (X2=9.983, P=0.002), ART duration (X2=10.410, P=0.001), number of sexual partners (X2=36.665, P=0.001) were significantly associated with unmet planning family need. Likewise, age group (X2=22.988, P<0.001), gender (X2=9.327, P=0.002), and religion (X2=17.243, P=0.001) were also significantly associated with unmet family planning needs. Binary logistic regression showed that respondents who were 40 years or more had 2.15 odds of unmet family planning needs compared to those less than 40 years. Also, respondents who had one sexual partner had 2.98 odds of unmet family planning needs when compared to respondents who had multiple sexual partners.

Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of unmet family planning needs among people living with HIV/AIDS in the South-South region of Nigeria.