The effect of access to family planning services during antenatal delivery and postpartum care on contraceptive use in the postpartum period.

This study explores the importance of family planning services during antenatal delivery and postpartum care on the use of a contraceptive method in the six-month postpartum period. We compare the access to family planning services during antenatal care delivery and the postpartum period of women who are using a contraceptive method and women who would like to use a contraceptive method but are not using one. To assess the relative importance of family planning services in each of these phases we fit a logistic regression model that controls for womens socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and unobserved variables at the community level. Data come from a survey of 600 women who visited a health center in the six-month postpartum period in Nicaragua. Results show that family planning counseling and referral during antenatal care; and offering a family planning method right after delivery increase the probability of contraceptive use. (authors)