ASSESSMENT OF THE DURATION OF BIRTH INTERVAL AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG WOMEN WHO ARE ADMMITTED TO SPHMMC OBGYN WARD.

Abstract

Abstract Background: short birth interval between consecutive births increase the number of children a women can have. This will have a harm full effect on the mother and child health with an increase in population. There fore understanding the practice of birth interval and its determinants is helpful to design helpful intervention based on evidence. The objective of this study is to determine the duration and fators associated to the birth interval among women who are admitted to SPHMMC OBGYN departemnt. Objectives The objective of this study is to assess the duration of birth interval and associated factors among women who are admitted to St. Paul hospital millennium medical college obstetrics and gynecology ward. Methods: The study design employed was institutional based cross sectional analytic design among fe male patients who are parous with at least one delivery and admitted to St. Paul hospital millennium medical college obstetrics and gynecology ward. Interviewer based questioner was used to collect data. Result: From the total number of respondents 130 (69%) of them have two children and 64 (49.2%) of them have practiced optimum birth interval. 57(43.8%) have practiced below the optimum birth interval and 9(6.9%) of them practice birth interval more than the optimum. The median duration of the actual birth interval was 34 month (SD +/-20.9) and the median duration of the preferred birth interval was 36 month (SD +/-13.2).the duration of birth interval has shown significant variation by residence, breast feeding prac tice, sex of the previous pregnancy outcome, contraceptive use and monthly income. Conclusion: low proportion of optimal birth spacing practices with short actual birth interval length and longer preferred birth interval lengths were evident among the study subjects. Hence interventions to en hance contraceptive utilization behaviors among women would be helpful to narrow the gap between opti mal and actual birth spacing. Key word: Birth interval duration