Knowledge and use of emergency contraceptives amid women seeking termination of pregnancy in the North West province

Abstract

Background: Despite acceptable contraceptive coverage rates in South Africa, the rise in the number of termination of pregnancies is worrisome and suggests that family planning services are not yet optimal. Emergency contraceptives are underutilised in South Africa.
Aim: To assess the knowledge and use of emergency contraceptives among women presenting to a termination of pregnancy (TOP) facility.
Setting: The study was conducted in the JB Marks sub-district, North West province, South Africa.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was based at the TOP clinic at Potchefstroom Hospital, North West province. One hundred and ninety-six women completed self-administered questionnaires. Completion of the questionnaire was considered consent. Descriptive statistics were performed, and Chi² and Fischer exact test were used to determine relationships between variables.
Results: The mean age of participants was 26.5 years (standard deviation [s.d.] = 5.87), with 114 (58.2%) participants being single women in their 20s. Among 162 participants who had never used emergency contraceptives, 64.8% cited a lack of knowledge as the primary barrier to use. Only 34 (17.4%) of participants have previously used emergency contraceptives. The main reason for poor uptake among the women who never used emergency contraceptives could be attributed to poor knowledge.
Conclusion: This study highlighted that knowledge and usage of emergency contraception are low in women presenting for TOP in the health sub-district. Emergency contraceptives can reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and its associated trauma significantly. Community intervention should be of utmost importance to improve the knowledge and usage of emergency contraception.
Contribution: This study emphasised the need to make young adults aware of emergency contraceptives to avoid the trauma of unintended pregnancy for women.