Unintended Pregnancy In The Ho Municipality Of The Volta Region

ABSTRACT Background: Unintended pregnancy prevalence in Ghana in married women is quoted at 37%. The Municipal Directorate of the Ho Municipality has also documented rising levels of induced abortion cases reporting for post abortion care. Recognizing that unintended pregnancies contribute to abortion and abortion related complications and their consequent contribution to increased maternal mortality ratio, the intension of the study is to determine the prevalence of unintended pregnancies in the Ho Municipality and to explore the outcomes of such pregnancies. Method : A total 472 questionnaires were fielded across all 14 antenatal clinics in the Ho municipality to be administered to pregnant women attending these clinics. Result : Four hundred and fifty women responded to the survey. The prevalence of unintended pregnancy in pregnant women in the municipality was found to be 44.1%. Of all the women who had admitted to have had a previous unintended pregnancy, 52% of those pregnancies resulted in abortion. Age, marital status and level of education attained by the women as well as a previous experience of an unintended pregnancy and the parity order were found to be significantly related to current occurrence of an unintended pregnancy Conclusion: Almost 45% of all pregnancies in Ho are unintended. Development of instruments to detect occurrence of abortions in the community can increase the accuracy of detecting unintended pregnancy. Targeting young people from early school level can help increase family planning method uptake and reduce unintended pregnancy.