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Full Length
Research Paper
Fertility
intention in the era of HIV/AIDS
among rural
women in Bure Woreda, West Gojam, Amhara Region, Ethiopia
Melesse Tamiru,
Damen Hailemariam, Getnet Mitike
School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Addis
Ababa University, Ethiopia
*Corresponding Author E-mail:
melesemegn@gmail.com
Received 22 February, 2012; Accepted 30 March, 2012
Although subsistence agriculture is the major economic
activity, parents want to have large number of children to
get assistance in farming activities as well as economic
support during old ages.
Women’s fertility and HIV infection are not independent of one
another. Conditions and behaviors producing high levels of
fertility are also likely to bear upon rural women’s
‘likelihood of acquiring HIV.
We investigated the association between perceived HIV risk
and child mortality by the desire to have children among
married women in rural Ethiopia. A cross-sectional sample of
1,380 married women age 18-49 years was randomly selected
from the rural kebeles of Bure woreda. One eligible subject
was randomly selected per household for a structured
interview on factors associated with desire for future
pregnancy. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS
version17. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses were
used to investigate the association between self-perceived
risk for HIV infection and child mortality by the desire for
a future pregnancy. Overall, 32 % of subjects expressed
desire to get pregnant in future, 8.8 % perceived themselves
at high risk for HIV infection and 26.7% reported the death
of at least one child in past five years. In multiple
logistic regression analysis, reporting at least one child's
death (OR=6.92; 95% CI 4.91- 9.47) was significantly
associated with a higher desire to get pregnant and high
perceived risk for HIV infection (OR=2.08; 95% CI 1.35-3.19)
was found to be associated with a high desire to get
pregnant. Being currently married, having no education, being of low parity
and having low household income were significantly
associated with having the desire for more children.
High perceived risk for HIV infection was not associated
with lower desire for future pregnancy. Moreover women seem
to have higher desire for future pregnancy to replace
childhood deaths that may result from HIV infection. Further
research is needed to explore utilitarian-economic, social
and psychological values attributed to children by women and
their partners.
Keywords: Fertility, Intention, Child mortality, HIV,
Ethiopia.
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