The Use Of Emergency Contraception Among The Female Undergraduate Students Of University Of Ghana, Legon

Abstract

All over the world, unwanted pregnancies and associated unsafe abortions have been identified as a major public health issues especially among teenagers and students. Unsafe abortions have been known to contribute to maternal mortality and morbidity. The role of contraception use as a strategy to tackle the phenomenon cannot be under-estimated. . Perceptions about side effects have been found to be one of challenges to increased family planning use in Ghana, especially hormonal contraceptive methods. This challenge is a major factor affecting contraceptive uptake. This study, therefore, sought to find the context and extent, including the side-effects from the use of emergency contraceptive pills (Postinor-2) among the female undergraduate students of UG. A cross-sectional quantitative study design was used with a hand-delivered self-administered questionnaires. Data was collected from 200 female undergraduate students of University of Ghana. Data was analysed using Microsoft Excel and 14th version of Stata. The descriptive statistics results were expressed in proportions or percentages. The association between socio-demographic variables and the use of EC pills was determined, using Fisher test (p-value˂0.05 was considered to be significant) and logistic regression.