Modern contraceptive use among young women aged 15-24 years in selected municipalities of Western Nepal: results from a cross-sectional survey in 2019

Objective: To estimate the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) and its predictors among young women aged 15-24 years.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of Adolescent Youth Project baseline survey.

Setting: 29 municipalities within Lumbini Province and Sudurpaschim Province in Western Nepal.

Participants: 683 young women aged 15-24 years who were living in the catchment area of the selected 30 private OK network health facilities at the study sites from November to December 2019 and who provided informed consent or assent.

Outcome measure: mCPR among young women aged 15-24 years.

Results: The mean age of the respondents was 19 years, 61.7% never had sex and 63.9% were unmarried. The mCPR was 11.9% (95% CI 9.5 to 14.8). Of those who reported using a modern method of contraception, injectables (37.9%) were the most common, followed by male condom (35.9%) and implants (8.8%). Majority (86.4%) of the respondents reported currently not using any method of contraception. In the binary logistic regression analysis, the odds of contraceptive use were higher among women aged 20-24 years (adjusted OR (AOR)=5.50, 95% CI 2.94 to 10.29) and those of Janajati caste/ethnicity (AOR=2.08, 95% CI 1.16 to 3.71), while the odds were lower among women who faced high level of barriers (individual, family/societal, service provider and health facility barriers) to contraceptive use (AOR=0.36, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.98).

Conclusions: The mCPR among young women aged 15-24 years was low but similar to the national level. Sexual and reproductive health programmes aiming to improve the mCPR in this population of young women should consider the reported level of sexual activity. Reaching young women to improve their knowledge and self-efficacy for contraception is critical to ensure they can access contraception when needed. The focus should be on reaching not just young women but also key influencers and service providers and making health facilities adolescent-friendly to reduce barriers to contraceptive uptake and to realise self-efficacy.