Trends of Permanent and Long Acting Reversible Forms of Contraception in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Accra

Abstract

Objective: To determine the trends of permanent and long acting reversible forms of contraception use over a 5-year period (2011-2015)
Methods: Hospital based retrospective study. Data extracted using records from the family planning unit, theatre registers and records from the statistics department of the Korle-Bu teaching Hospital, from 1 January 2011 to 311 December 2015.
Results: There were 1982 female sterilizations and 9 vasectomies over the 5-year period. The mean age of sterilized women decreased from 35.7 years to 34.5 years, whereas the mean parity decreased from 4.0 to 3.4. The number of women sterilized each year however declined from 439 in 2011 to 377 in 2015. There was a general upward trend in the number of users of Implant and IUCD.
Conclusion: There is a decline in female sterilizations with a very small number of vasectomies in the Korle- Bu Teaching Hospital over the last 5 years. However, there has been an increasing trend in Implant and IUCD use, which may be partly responsible for the declining trend in female sterilization. Against the background of a declining total fertility rate which stands at 4.2 and the mean parity of 3.4 for clients who had female sterilization, there could be a higher unmet need for permanent methods.