Examining the high rate of traditional contraceptive method use in the Democratic Republic of Congo: adaptation in a post-conflict setting?

Jamaica Corker, University of Geneva

According to data from the 2013-14 DHS, the Democratic Republic of Cong has among the world's highest TFR (6.8) and lowest modern contraceptive use rate (7.8%). Somewhat puzzlingly, it also has one of the highest rates of traditional method use and an unusually high ratio of traditional to modern method use. We hypothesize that this unusually high ratio of traditional to modern method use is explained in part by the post-conflict setting of the DRC. We use data from the few studies on family planning prior the mid-1990s in the DRC for general estimates of contraceptive use prior to the conflict (aprox. 15%) and compare these to estimates from the same period from neighboring countries with similar profiles (e.g. Cameroon, Angola, Tanzania). Preliminary results show distinct patterns of traditional method use for DRC and neighboring Republic of Congo that warrant more detailed examination in the next steps of the analysis.