An investigation into the demographic and socio-economic factors associated with female infertility; its risk factors and treatment seeking behavior among infertile women in lusaka urban district: a case study of residents of Misisi, Libala and Woodlands townships of Lusaka.
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Date
2020
Authors
Munyati, Annastasia
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Publisher
University of Zambia
Abstract
This study aimed at investigating the demographic and socio-economic factors associated with female infertility; its risk factors and treatment seeking behavior among infertile women in Lusaka urban district. Despite the existence of an extensive body of literature on psychological and medical aspects of infertility, there are only a few studies that have been conducted to investigate the demographic and socio-economic factors, risk factors and treatment seeking behavior associated with female infertility in Zambia, yet alone the Lusaka urban district. This study aimed to contribute to the knowledge gap in this area.
The study focused on investigating female patients with a pre-existing infertility condition from three residential areas in Lusaka urban district. The analysis was complemented by additional surveys conducted with medical professionals and non-patient individuals from Lusaka urban district as well. The study incorporated a wide range of descriptive statistics to explore the data. Standardized statistical tests were also conducted using bivariate Chi-square and binary logistics regression analysis.
The main study findings revealed that among demographic factors under study, age at time of marriage and residence were not significantly associated with female infertility, while the age of a woman and the age (or period) of marriage were found to be both statistically significantly associated with female infertility. The study further revealed that among the socio-economic factors under study, gender-based violence and divorce were not statistically associated with female infertility, while social stigmatization and income loss due to treatment were statistically significantly associated with female infertility.
Based on these results obtained from the study, it was recommended that further research on the causes and effects of primary female infertility should be prioritized and conducted at a national level; that the Government, through the Ministry of Health, should offer better free or affordable health care and counselling services for women and couples who cannot afford treatment abroad or from private institutions. Moreover, it was recommended that partnerships between the Government and private sector health institutions be forged in order to increase the coverage of health care services associated with infertility.
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Keywords
Infertility, Female--Zambia