The Effect of a Club in Making Differences in Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices on Family Planning Among Married Adolescent Girls in Urban Slums in Bangladesh

Fauzia Akhter Huda, Hassan Rushekh Mahmood, Faisal Ahmmed, Anisuddin Ahmed, Aniqa Tahmina Hassan, Alessio Panza and Ratana Somrongthong
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Fauzia Akhter Huda: College of Public Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Hassan Rushekh Mahmood: Maternal and Child Health Division (MCHD), icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Faisal Ahmmed: Maternal and Child Health Division (MCHD), icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Anisuddin Ahmed: Maternal and Child Health Division (MCHD), icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Aniqa Tahmina Hassan: Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Alessio Panza: College of Public Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Ratana Somrongthong: College of Public Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 20, 1-12

Abstract: Early marriage and childbearing have led to Bangladesh having the highest adolescent fertility rate in the Asia Pacific region. Adolescent pregnancy is correlated with pregnancy-related complications, preterm delivery, delivery of low-birth weight babies, and spousal violence. A quasi-experimental study was conducted in four urban slums (two intervention and two control areas) of Dhaka from July 2014 to August 2016 to assess the effectiveness of a married adolescent girls club (MAG club) in reducing the unmet need for family planning (FP) among married girls between the ages of 14 and 19 ( n = 1601, 799 in intervention and 802 in control areas). The percentages of the targeted population using any modern method of contraception were significantly higher among respondents in the intervention areas than those in the control areas (72.6% versus 63.5%). The unmet need for FP was significantly lower among respondents in the intervention areas than that of the control areas (16.2% versus 20.7%). The MAG club was a well-received strategy to provide comprehensive information on FP, which in turn helped improve contraceptive method practices and reduced the unmet need for FP among married adolescent girls in urban slums in Bangladesh. The government could leverage its existing resources to expand the MAG Club model in rural parts of the country to achieve the targets outlined in its Adolescent Reproductive Health Strategy.

Keywords: married adolescent girls; urban slums; family planning; knowledge; attitude and practices; Bangladesh (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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