We aimed to determine the concordance between own and perceived partner fertility intentions and identify contraceptive use predictors among couples receiving antiretroviral therapy in Kano, Nigeria.
A structured, validated questionnaire was used to interview 399 married men and women receiving antiretroviral therapy.
Most couples had concordant fertility intentions. Only 10.0% of couples had discordant fertility intentions. Among 232 couples, at least one partner used contraception. Male condoms were used by 45.9% of couples. One hundred seventy-five teams used female methods. Contraceptive use was significantly lower in participants who had not been sexually active in the last six months. Both partners wanted more children and in situations lacking spousal communication about family planning.
The study concluded that one in 10 couples had discordant fertility intentions. Contraceptive use was suboptimal and was predicted by age, education, income, length of the marriage, number of children, duration of antiretroviral therapy, partner’s serostatus, sexual activity, fertility intention, spousal communication, and the contraceptive decision-maker. Our findings highlight the need for marital communication, joint contraceptive decision making, and the integration of reproductive health services with antiretroviral therapy services.
Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13625187.2020.1807499
