Author(s)

Damot Walelign¹, Alemtsehay Mekonen², Mastewal Netsere³, Molalign Tarekegn^4*

¹Joint MPH Program, Bahir Dar University and GAMBY, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
²College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
³Organization for Rehabilitation and Development of Amhara, Sekotta, Ethiopia.
⁴College of Medical Sciences, GAMBY, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

Background: Mothers are dying as a result of abortion associated with preventable unintended pregnancy. The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of Modern contraceptive use and associated factors among Muslim and orthodox Christian women of reproductive age group in Bahir Dar city. Methods: Comparative Cross-sectional study was carried out on 504 participants selected through Simple random sampling technique from the list of households. Data were collected through a pretested interviewer administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed using logistic regression model to determine odds ratio as a measure of strength off association. Result: The prevalence of modern contraceptive use was higher among Orthodox Christian women by 0.28: 95% for the difference (0.19, 0.36). While 63.9% orthodox Christian women were using modern contraceptives only 36.1% of Muslim women were using Modern contraceptive. Age, Religiosity and education level were found to have a statistical association for modern contraceptive use in Both Orthodox Christian and Muslim women (p value < 0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of modern contraceptive use among Muslim women was found to significantly lower than that in Orthodox Christian. Recommendation: More efforts should be done to increase the number of Modern Contraceptive users, by focusing on awareness creation on Modern contraceptives with special emphasis on Muslims.

Modern Contraceptive Use, Christian, Muslim, North West Ethiopia

Walelign, D. , Mekonen, A. , Netsere, M. and Tarekegn, M. (2014) Modern Contraceptive Use among Orthodox Christian and Muslim Women of Reproductive Age Group in Bahir Dar City, North West Ethiopia: Comparative Cross Sectional Study. Open Journal of Epidemiology, 4, 235-242. doi: 10.4236/ojepi.2014.44030.