National Study in Rwanda Family planning barriers

Over the last two decades, Rwanda has registered tremendous improvement in family planning (FP). The contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) in the country has tripled from 17% in 2005 to 53% in 2014-15. However, the 2014-15 Rwanda demographic and health survey (RDHS) showed a slow increase in the use of modern FP methods compared to the previous five years (only around a 3% increase), and the unmet need for contraception remains unchanged at 19% compared to the previous five years. The drop-out rate of FP users is high for unknown reasons, and yet, over the years, many strategies have been put in place to speed up FP uptake in order to reap the “demographic dividend.”

Therefore, there is a need to generate evidence to inform new strategies to address the challenges affecting the FP program, including the identification of the barriers to FP uptake and exploration of the factors associated with the low increase in the modern CPR.