Abstract:
Postpartum family planning has the potential of contributing to the
achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3, which aims at ensuring
quality maternal health, promoting wellbeing for all as well as the
consequence of each pregnancy. Using women‟s postpartum family planning
framework, the study sought to examine the postpartum family planning
uptake. The study used secondary data from the Ghana Demographic and
Health Survey (DHS), (GSS, 2014). Bivariate and multivariate regression
models were applied to examine the relationship between background
characteristics and postpartum family planning uptake. The results showed
that majority of the women were in their extended postpartum period. The
proportion of women who were using postpartum family planning were few.
However, Brong-Ahafo region recorded the highest prevalence rate. A higher
proportion of married women used modern contraceptive type compared to the
traditional or folklore. The injectables were the most used contraceptive
method. There is statistical relationship between age, marital status,
occupation, region, residence and postpartum family planning uptake but not
with religion. It is recommended that the various family planning service
providers, Ghana Health Service and Ministry of Health should focus
education specifically on immediate postpartum contraception since this can
help prevent unintended pregnancies within the first six months postpartum
and promote initiation of contraception before the return of menses
