Determinants of unmet need for contraception among Chinese migrants: A worksite-based survey

Abstract

Background Considerable sexual and reproductive health (SRH) challenges have been reported among rural-to-urban migrants in China. Predictors thereof are urgently needed to develop targeted interventions.

Study design A cross-sectional study assessed determinants of unmet need for contraception using semi-structured interviews in two cities in China: Guangzhou and Qingdao.

Results Between July and September 2008, 4867 female rural-to-urban migrants aged 18–29 years participated in the study. Of these, 2264 were married or cohabiting. Among sexually-active women (n = 2513), unmet need for contraception was reported by 36.8% and 51.2% of respondents in Qingdao and Guangzhou, respectively; it was associated with being unmarried, having no children, less schooling, poor SRH knowledge, working in non-food industry, and not being covered by health insurance. A substantial proportion of unmarried migrants reported they had sexual intercourse (16.6 % in Qingdao and 21.4% in Guangzhou) contrary to current sexual standards in China.

Conclusion The study emphasises the importance of improving the response to the needs of rural-to-urban migrants and recommends strategies to address the unmet need for contraception. These should enhance open communication on sexuality, increase the availability of condoms, and improve health insurance coverage.

Keywords:

• Rural urban migration
• Reproductive health
• Health survey
• Migrant workers
• Needs assessment
• Health services accessibility
• Family planning services
• Contraception behaviour
• China

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Dirk Van Braeckel, Alexia Sabbe and Alexander Vanderbiest for linguistic revision of the manuscript. We thank the management of the worksites, the researchers and students who contributed to the successful outcome of the project. Most of all, we are deeply grateful to the women who participated in this survey.

This document is an output from the project ‘Young Labour Migrants in Chinese cities: A demonstration-intervention project to address barriers to health care and promote their sexual and reproductive health (INCO 032522)’, funded by the European Commission FP 6 Programme. Ghent University, Belgium, coordinated the research consortium.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.