Traditional Fertility Regulation Methods among Remote Ethiopian Communities: The Case of Hamer District

Abstract

Objective:To assess the prevalence and practice of fertility regulation methods among remote Ethiopian communities of the Hamer District, Southern Ethiopia. Materials and methods: Community-based cross sectional study was conducted in Hamer District of South Regional State of Ethiopia. The study populations were women of reproductive age group residing in the District and purposively identified key informants. Stratified Simple random sampling procedure was carried out to reach at the 382 women included in the survey. The Data was collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS computer software. Results: The study revealed that there exist various traditional as well as modern fertility regulation methods in the area (particularly the former). Traditional Methods including the use of herbs called ‘Ditha’ and ‘Dohe’; the application of different materials on the uterus; infanticide & Abortion were among the risky methods that are widely practiced in the area currently. On the other hand; methods like Post Partum Abstinence and natural methods were among the methods with unknown efficacy despite extensive practice. For women who are deep to the District (rural) and are illiterate; the awareness, knowledge and practice of these methods is by far less than many figures in the country; on the other hand, the same was high for the urban women even when compared with some regional and national figures. Conclusion: it was possible to conclude that various types of traditionally known useful and harmful (risky) fertility regulation methods exist in the area. These findings imply the importance of strengthening the IEC/BCC and introduction of reliable modern family planning methods as well as establishing reproductive health services, and possibly establishment of abortion care in the area is a timely activity to end with the problems.