Long-term contraceptive methods, such as intra-uterine contraceptive device (IUD), female sterilisation and implant are the most widely used contraceptives in the world because of their being safe, effective and relatively less expensive. There are many factors related to the use of long-term methods. The objective of this study is to examine the factors influencing the use of long-term contraceptive use in Indonesia 2007. The analysis is based on data collected at the 2007 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS 2007), which collected a range of family planning, demographic and health information by interviewing 32,895 currently married women. Of these women, 3,381 were currently using a long-term contraceptive method such as IUD, female sterilisation and implants.
The results of this study show that the type of place of residence (rural or urban), women’s age, household wealth index, knowledge of any method of contraception, women’s educational attainment, women’s current work status, ideal number of children, and the total number of children ever born and living are the factors which are significantly associated with the use of long-term contraceptives. The data show that although most women and couples have knowledge of contraceptives, current use of long-term contraceptives is low. The low use of long-term contraceptives is much more prevalent in the rural and remote areas where more adequate information and promotion of contraceptive knowledge and use should be provided.
The difference between the characteristics of women who were not using any method, women who were using short-term contraceptives and women who were using long-term contraceptive methods could be used as a guide to counseling women about contraceptive options so that they can choose the appropriate contraceptives for themselves. This needs more effort from the family planning fieldworkers and other family planning program facilitators to improve the acceptance and use of long-term contraceptives.