1. Unmet Need For Family Planning in Africa Presented by: Timothee Gandaho Partners in Population & Development Dhaka, Bangladesh Source: POLICY Project Briefing Papers (Goliber, Sanders, Winfrey, Jewell) Repositioning Family Planning in West Africa Repositionnement de la Planification Familiale en Afrique de l’Ouest Sponsored by: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), World Health Organization (WHO), Action for West Africa Region Project - Reproductive Health (AWARE-RH), Advance Africa, the POLICY Project

2. What is unmet need for Family Planning? Definition from DHS : A woman Able to bear children Sexually active Not using any contraceptive methods Does not want a child for at least 2 years (“Spacer”) or Wants no more children (“Limiter” ) Conservative estimate which excludes: Groups Arguably “ in Need” (many traditional method users) Amenorrheic women who say they wanted their last birth are omitted even if they wish to delay next pregnancy

3. Unmet Need for Family Planning Services by Country (%)

4. Unmet need for FP services by Residence (%)

5. Unmet need to space births by age (%) AGE in years

6. Unmet need to limit births by age (%) AGE in years

7. Unmet need to space births by number of children (%) Parity

8. Unmet need to limit births by number of children (%) Parity

9. Most women with unmet need intend to use contraception in the future (%) Ghana Nigeria MaliGuinea

10. Discussing family planning with partner influences future intention to use (%) Intend to use family planning GHANANIGERIA

11. Discussing family planning with partner influences future intention to use (%) Intend to use family planning MALIGUINEA

12. Contact with family planning providers is associated with intention to use (%) Intend to use family planning GHANANIGERIA

13. Contact with family planning providers is associated with intention to use (%) Intend to use family planning MALIGUINEA

14. Married women with unmet need who intend to use in the future by Preferred methods (%) Methods

15. Worries over side effects and health concerns are major reasons women with unmet need do not plan to use family planning in the future GHANA SpacersLimiters

16. Worries over side effects and health concerns are major reasons women with unmet need do not plan to use family planning in the future NIGERIA SpacersLimiters

17. Worries over side effects and health concerns are major reasons women with unmet need do not plan to use family planning in the future Mali SpacersLimiters

18. Worries over side effects and health concerns are major reasons women with unmet need do not plan to use family planning in the future GUINEA SpacersLimiters

19. Conclusion Strong evidence exists that there is a high level of unmet need for family planning in West Africa Considerable information exists about the characteristics, intentions, and preferences of women with an unmet need for family planning services These characteristics differ from country to country Many obstacles related to unmet needs can be removed with appropriate policies, strategies an programmes using the available information on unmet need. Paying special attention to Young people and Male involvement is very important to change the situation