Gashaw Mehiret1* and Aragaw Tesfaw2
Background: Unintended pregnancy is a major social and public health problem around the globe and a major cause of unsafe abortion, underutilization of prenatal care, and low birth weight. In Ethiopia, according to the national demographic and health survey (2016) report, about 23% of total last pregnancies were unintended. Therefore, this review aimed to document the magnitude and major factors contributing to untended pregnancy from Ethiopian studies. Methods: The reviewed articles were searched from electronic databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar) using keywords or phrases such as ‘unintended pregnancy’, ‘unwanted pregnancy’, ‘mistimed pregnancy’, ‘Factors’ and ‘Ethiopia’. The reviewed studies included all epidemiologic studies published between the years 2008 and 2018. Result: The overall magnitude of untended pregnancy was ranged from 13.7% to 42.4% in Ethiopia. Socio-demographic factors (marital status, distance to the nearest health facility, Occupation, educational status, husband preference and religious prohibition, income, and place of residence), maternal/obstetric factors (maternal age, ever utilization of any types of contraceptive methods, having a child before and the number of children, having a history of abortion or stillbirth, having no antenatal visit and awareness of contraceptive) were the major contributing factors identified for unintended childbirth in Ethiopia. Conclusion and recommendation: The study found a high prevalence of unintended childbirth in the country associated with various sociodemographic, maternal, and obstetric contributing factors. Therefore, there is a need for evidence-based targeted interventions to increase access and use of modern contraceptive services and create awareness for the public is recommended.
