Fertility and contraceptive use among young adults in Harare, Zimbabwe
Boohene, E.; Tsodzai, J.; Hardee-Cleaveland, K.; Weir, S.; Janowitz, B.
Studies in Family Planning 22(4): 264-271
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0039-3665 PMID: 1949108 DOI: 10.2307/1966482Document Number: 315482
In 1986, researchers surveyed 1941 14-24 year old men and women from Harare to determine sexual activity, contraceptive knowledge and use, and pregnancy in this population. 61% of ever pregnant women were married at 1st pregnancy and 25% more married after becoming pregnant. Indeed 43% of women who had premarital sexual intercourse became pregnant before marriage. Moreover, 33% of ever pregnant women were students when they conceived an 90% of them left school. Further, 80% of pregnant students did not want to be pregnant. Overall, women who were not married at conception were much less likely to want the pregnancy than were women who were married at conception. 50% of women and 36.5% of men who knew of a family planning method had ever talked to anyone about contraception or pregnancy. Moreover, 33% went to a family life education course. Those who were in school were more likely to have attended such a course than those not in school, however, 25% of the women and 40% of the men knew of the Youth Advisory Council. Even though 79.5% of the young adults knew at least 1 method and most did not want to become pregnant, 87% of sexually active women and 83% of sexually active men did not use them at 1st intercourse. Further, 64% of never married women and 71% of never married men who had intercourse in the month before the survey did not use contraceptives. The leading reason for not using a method was ignorance of contraceptive methods. 86% of women who did use a contraceptive 4 weeks before the survey used the pill and 64% of the men used a condom. Yet positive attitudes toward premarital use of contraceptive norms were the norm for sexually active youth. These results demonstrate the need for the Youth Advisory Services to increase efforts to reach youth before they begin sexual activity.