Factors Influencing Non-use of Family Planning among Rural Adolescent girls in Malawi

Contraceptives uptake among rural adolescent girls remains a major challenge despite efforts aimed at promoting adolescent health in Malawi. The study, therefore, examined factors influencing non-use of family planning methods among rural adolescent girls. A sample of 4358 rural adolescent girls from 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey and using logistic regression was used to estimate determinants. About 90.1% of the rural girls had never used family planning methods. Community factors such as distance to access health care and insufficient knowledge about contraceptives explained non-use status. The need to implement community based family planning interventions, targeting rural adolescent girls is paramount not only improve family planning uptake practices, but also their health well-being for country's socio economic development benefits.