Prevalence of Postpartum Family Planning Service Coverage in Selected Referral Facilities of Nepal

Introduction: Nepal Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists jointly with the Nepalese governmentand with the support from the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology hasimplemented an initiative to institutionalize postpartum family planning services in selected majorreferral facilities of Nepal to address the gap of low uptake of postpartum family planning in Nepal.The aim of the study is to find the prevalence of the service coverage of postpartum contraception inthe selected facilities. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in seven major referral facilities acrossNepal. Data were collected from the hospital records of all women who delivered in these facilitiesbetween October 2018 and March 2019. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from NepalHealth Research Council. Data analysis was done with SPSS version 23. Results: Among the 29,072 deliveries from all the facilities, postpartum family planning counselingcoverage was 27,301 (93.9%). The prevalence of uptake of Postpartum Intrauterine Device is 1581(5.4%) and female sterilization is 1830 (6.3%). In total 11387 mothers (52.2%) had the intention tochoose a postpartum family planning method. However, 36% of mothers neither used nor had theintention to choose a postpartum family planning method. Conclusions: The coverage of Postpartum Intrauterine Device counseling service coverage in Nepal ishigher in 2018 as compared to 2016-2017 and in other countries implementing Postpartum IntrauterineDevice initiatives. However, the prevalence of service coverage of immediate Postpartum FamilyPlanning methods, mainly Postpartum Intrauterine Device in 2018 is lower in Nepal as compared to2016-2017, and other countries implementing Postpartum Intrauterine Device initiative. More effortsare needed to encourage mothers delivering in the facilities to use the postpartum family planningmethod.