Peer-reviewed article
The Effect of a Club in Making Differences in Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices on Family Planning Among Married Adolescent Girls in Urban Slums in Bangladesh.
Fauzia Akhter Huda, Hassan Rushekh Mahmood, Faisal Ahmmed, Anisuddin Ahmed, Aniqa Tahmina Hassan et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001Bangladesh has the highest adolescent fertility rate in the Asia Pacific region, with early marriage and childbearing causing serious health complications. A study tested a married adolescent girls club (MAG club) in urban slums of Dhaka to increase knowledge and use of family planning among girls aged 14–19. The club significantly increased modern contraceptive use and reduced unmet family planning needs among married adolescent girls compared to control areas.
Key points
- Modern contraceptive use was 72.6% in intervention areas versus 63.5% in control areas
- Unmet need for family planning was 16.2% in intervention areas versus 20.7% in control areas
- The MAG club provided comprehensive information on family planning in an acceptable format
- Adolescent pregnancy is associated with pregnancy complications, preterm delivery, low birth weight, and spousal violence
- The authors recommend expanding the model to rural parts of Bangladesh
Limitations
The study is limited to urban slum settings in Dhaka and does not provide information about long-term sustainability of the intervention or cost-effectiveness. The design does not capture mechanisms of change or experiences of the adolescent girls themselves.
Abstract
Early marriage and childbearing have led to Bangladesh having the highest adolescent fertility rate in the Asia Pacific region. Adolescent pregnancy is correlated with pregnancy-related complications, preterm delivery, delivery of low-birth weight babies, and spousal violence. A quasi-experimental study was conducted in four urban slums (two intervention and two control areas) of Dhaka from July 2014 to August 2016 to assess the effectiveness of a married adolescent girls club (MAG club) in reducing the unmet need for family planning (FP) among married girls between the ages of 14 and 19 (n = 1601, 799 in intervention and 802 in control areas). The percentages of the targeted population using any modern method of contraception were significantly higher among respondents in the intervention areas than those in the control areas (72.6% versus 63.5%). The unmet need for FP was significantly lower among respondents in the intervention areas than that of the control areas (16.2% versus 20.7%). The MAG club was a well-received strategy to provide comprehensive information on FP, which in turn helped improve contraceptive method practices and reduced the unmet need for FP among married adolescent girls in urban slums in Bangladesh. The government could leverage its existing resources to expand the MAG Club model in rural parts of the country to achieve the targets outlined in its Adolescent Reproductive Health Strategy.