FERTILITY AND CONTRACEPTIVE USE IN RURAL DALLE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study was based on data from the 1992 Family Planning Expansion Project base-line survey conducted by the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia. The findings indicated that the study population was characterized by a persistence of high fertility and an extremely low level of contraceptive use. The mean number of children ever born to women aged 45-49 was about 8, while the total marital fertility rate (TMFR) was arund 11 births per woman. The analysis also suggested that the study women had a strong preference for a large family. On the other hand, only 4.1% of the 664 eligible women reported having used some contraceptive methods at the time of the survery. Thus, it is recommendad that methods of reducing the observed high fertility be introduced so as to alleviate thesocio-econornic problems that it poses. [Ethiop. I. Health Dev. 1994;(8)1:11-21]