Unmet need is a valuable indicator for assessing the achievement of the national family planning program. The women of the Muslim community have a high unmet need for family planning because of high fertility, low contraceptive prevalence, religious beliefs and socio-demographic characteristics. The study was undertaken with the objectives to identify the prevalence of unmet need for family planning among the Muslim married women of reproductive age group (15-49 years) and to determine the various factors that influence on unmet need for family planning. A community-based, cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted in Miyapatan, Nepal. A total of 112 Muslim married women under reproductive age group were selected using systematic random sampling technique and interviewed through the house to house survey with the help of a predesigned, pretested semi-structured questionnaire.
The total unmet need for family planning was 31.3% (12.5% for spacing births and 18.8% for limiting births). The unmet need varied significantly with age (p = 0.004) and was highest in <24 years age group (61.1%). It was significantly higher among the women who had never discussed with their partners regarding the use of contraceptives (68.2%, p = 0.000) and higher among the respondents who had lower decision-making power for using of contraceptives (29.4%, p = 0.001). There was also significantly higher among the women who didn’t attend health institutions for receiving family planning services (84.4%, p = 0.000). The common reasons behind the unmet need for family planning were religious opposition (37.1%), fear of health concern (25.7%) and discontinuation of contraceptives by past users (22.9%). Thus study concluded that unmet need was high among Muslim women from urban area, despite extensive family planning program in Nepal exists.
