Impact of Home Pregnancy Tests on Contraceptive Uptake

Rebecca Thornton of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in the U.S. will test whether access to home pregnancy tests and thereby earlier confirmation of pregnancy status in rural areas of sub-Saharan countries encourages family planning. Currently, 25% of married women in sub-Saharan Africa who do not want more children are not using contraception. This is due in part to the high cost, and that when women know they are not pregnant they are more likely to use contraception than when they are unsure. In collaboration with a local non-profit health organization they will conduct a study to investigate how 400 women from southwestern Uganda regard their pregnancy status and risk, and their approach to contraception, and if and how these change when they have access to pregnancy tests.