Objective: To determine the trends of permanent and
long acting reversible forms of contraception use over
a 5-year period (2011-2015)
Methods: Hospital based retrospective study. Data
extracted using records from the family planning unit,
theatre registers and records from the statistics
department of the Korle-Bu teaching Hospital, from 1
January 2011 to 311 December 2015.
Results: There were 1982 female sterilizations and 9
vasectomies over the 5-year period. The mean age of
sterilized women decreased from 35.7 years to 34.5
years, whereas the mean parity decreased from 4.0 to
3.4. The number of women sterilized each year
however declined from 439 in 2011 to 377 in 2015.
There was a general upward trend in the number of
users of Implant and IUCD.
Conclusion: There is a decline in female sterilizations
with a very small number of vasectomies in the KorleBu
Teaching Hospital over the last 5 years. However,
there has been an increasing trend in Implant and
IUCD use, which may be partly responsible for the
declining trend in female sterilization. Against the
background of a declining total fertility rate which
stands at 4.2 and the mean parity of 3.4 for clients who
had female sterilization, there could be a higher unmet
need for permanent methods.