More Than 160 Million Women Have Unmet Contraception Needs: Study

After the United States Supreme Court overturned the Roe v/s Wade judgment, the shift toward other contraceptive methods to avoid pregnancy became popular. But a new study estimated that millions of women and adolescents remained without contraception in 2019. 

According to the study published in the medical journal Lancet by the Global Burden of Disease Study, more than 160 million women and adolescents could not access contraception to avoid unwanted pregnancies despite significant improvements in various methods of contraception for over 50 years. 

The study provided an estimate of global contraceptive use, type, and need from 1970 to 2019 by country, marital status, age, and group. 

The study was based on the data from 1,162 self-reported women’s contraceptive use surveys. The study’s authors used modeling to produce national estimates of different family planning indicators. The proportion of women of reproductive age using modern methods of contraception, types of contraception used, and unmet need for any contraceptive method were the indicators used by the authors. 

Additionally, the authors defined women as sexually active, needing contraception when they were married, able to get pregnant and not wanting a child, or preferred to delay their pregnancy. 

The study found that the gaps in contraception remained even after decades of progress in contraception methods globally. Since 1970, many new methods of contraception like oral pills and sterilization have been in use. However, the gap remained. 

The study showed that the use of modern contraception methods increased from 28 percent in 1970 to 48 percent in 2019. But 163 million reproductive women out of a total of 1.2 billion could not use contraception. 

Another significant finding of the study was that the use of contraceptives varied from region to region. For instance, East Asia, South Asia, and Oceania had the highest use of modern contraceptives (about 65%) and the demand satisfied (about 90%). On the other hand, sub-Saharan Africa had the lowest use of modern contraceptives (about 24%), and the demand satisfied (52%). As far as individual countries were concerned, the use of modern contraceptive methods ranged from 2 percent in South Sudan and 88 percent in Norway in 2019. 

Also, the study found that young women (15-24) faced the highest levels of unmet contraception needs globally. According to the study estimates, this age group comprised 16 percent of the total need but 27 percent of total unmet need. Thus, about 43 million young women could not access to contraceptives they needed in 2019. Additionally, the most significant gaps were seen in young, married women. 

The third parameter of the study was the type of contraception. The authors suggested that the dominance of single methods of contraception indicated the lack of suitable and sustainable choices for women. 

Female sterilization and oral contraceptives were the most common methods in the Caribbean and Latin America. IUDs and condoms were dominant in Europe and Central Asia. 

According to Professor Rafael Lozano of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, the study author highlighted the need for contraception for all reproductive women and suitable contraception choices. Contraception may increase if diversified options of contraception were available, he added. 

The study authors acknowledged some limitations in their study. According to the authors, the criteria used by them to identify women in need of contraception might not have included certain women. Women who underreported sexual activities because of social stigma might not have self-registered. Additionally, the estimates were based on data from partnered women than unpartnered women.