Communication about family planning on desired fertility among married people in Rwanda.

Abstract

The decision to have a child is one of the most significant two people can ever make. Specifically, couple can typically plan when to begin a family, how large a family they want. Thus if a couple is planning on having a child, they have the responsibility to consider and discuss many things involved in parenting such as family planning. The main purpose of this study is to assess the extent of spousal communication about family planning by focusing on the preferences concerning family size and the desire of additional children. Drawing on the literature review; the study address the conceptual definitions and notions of spousal communication about family planning, attitudes towards family planning and desired fertility, communication and desired fertility, and economic value of children. Using data from the 2000 Rwanda demographic and health survey, the study analyzed a set of selected socio-demographics factors and its correlation with the desire of more children within married people in Rwanda. The results reveal that husbands are more likely to desire additional children compared to their wives. Women in urban areas are more likely to stop childbearing compared to those who live in rural areas and the reverse for man. However education and employment are also associated to the desire for no more children and are significant in the multivariate analysis. As expected son preference is important and affect the desire for additional children, then within any given parity, couples with one or more sons are more likely to stop childbearing compared to those who have no sons. The analysis of the impact of spousal communication about family planning shows that partner who discuss on family planning are more likely to desire no more children than their counterparts who have never discussed the issue. In order to enhance the spousal communication about family planning in Rwanda and improve attitudes towards family planning, it is proposed to promote IEC as a tool of intervention to increase the awareness of spacing and limitation of childbearing.