Effects of male controlling behaviour on pregnancy termination termination in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This paper determined the association between Male Controlling Behaviour (MCB) and pregnancy Termination (PT) using the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of a weighted sample of ever married women in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (5080) Zambia (8,570) and Nigeria (21,196). More than 19.0% of women in DRC, 13.6% in Nigeria and 13.4% in Zambia claimed to have ever terminated a pregnancy. The unadjusted and adjusted ORs showed that women whose husband exhibited at least one control are more likely to have ever terminated pregnancy in all the three countries. The study concluded that an evidence-based understanding of the association between MCB and PT is a prerequisite for effective intervention to increase awareness on the health implications of MCB.