Unmet need for contraception in the developing world Addressing the unmet need for contraception has become a great concern to further the development of the world’s poorest nations. More than 100 million married women living in developing countries have an unmet need for contraception, meaning that they are able to become pregnant but do not want to, and yet are not using either a traditional or modern method of contraception. A new report by the Guttmacher Institute entitled “Unmet Needs for Contraception in Developing countries” provides a detailed analysis of the unmet need for contraception among women in the developing world. Its findings are based on a series of data from 1995 to 2005, extracted from surveys of women in seven main regions of the developing world: Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, West Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The unmet need is greatest in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 24% of married and 9% of unmarried women have an unmet need. The unmet need for contraception among married women was much lower elsewhere, where the figure ranged from 10-12% in Southeast Asia, West Asia, North Africa and Latin America. Latin America was the only region which generated data concerning the unmet need for contraception among never married women other than Sub-Saharan Africa, where the unmet need is estimated to be 5% among never married women. The unmet need for contraception has also declined a mere 2% over the last decade in Sub-Saharan Africa. In comparison, this figure was 4-7% in other regions. The country with the highest level of unmet need for contraception was Haiti, where 40% of women had an unmet need for contraception. There were three broad categories that both married and unmarried women with an unmet need for contraception cited as their reason for non use of contraceptive measures. The most common reason for nonuse can be contributed to lack of knowledge about and access to contraceptives. This included concerns about negative health effects, which was a more common reason given by women from urban areas, and Asia, where barriers to access are relatively low. Women also cited the inconvenience of use as a reason for not using contraception. Barriers to contraception access were higher among Sub-Saharan African women, as well as poor and uneducated women. A second reason for not using contraception was that the women did not believe they were at risk of getting pregnant, due to their infrequent sexual activity, postpartum amenorrhea or infecundity. Another cited reason for nonuse of contraception among women with an unmet need is opposition to use, either from themselves or from their partner or family members. This reason was more frequently sited among women from Sub-Saharan Africa, and is not as frequently cited as the first two reasons. The Guttmacher’s report offers recommendations in order to quell the unmet need for contraception in the Developing world. These include educating women about the risks of getting pregnant, offering a range of contraceptive methods, raising awareness about contraceptive methods among the population, and improving contraceptive technologies. The report highlights that simply providing contraception will not solve the problem of high birth rates. We must recognize that there are still cultural attitudes that may prevent women from using these contraceptives. For more information or to access the report, visit: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2007/07/09/or37.pdf http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2007/07/09/FB_unmetNeed.pdf