Gaborone: Difference between revisions

Since gaining independence in 1966, Botswana has experienced steady economic growth, largely due to its prosperous diamond industry. Consequently, the country has seen an expansion of its health care resources, including family planning methods. In 1984, family planning services began to be included in nearly all health facilities and, in 1989, the family planning logistics manual (contraceptive commodities and drugs) was developed. While only 16% of women in Botswana used any form of contraception in 1974, the rate increased to 40% by 1996 and 51% by 2007. Meanwhile, the use of traditional methods, such withdrawal or the rhythm method, decreased from 7.5% in 1984 to 2.6% in 2007. In 2015, it was found that 56.3% of women in Botswana (who were of reproductive age and married/in unions) used some form of contraception, and 16.8% of women had unmet family planning needs. The most common forms of contraception were found to be male condoms (35.8%), contraceptive injectables (7.3%), birth control pills (6.5%) and female sterilization (2.2%). Traditional methods, like the rhythm methods (1.1%) and withdrawal (0.4%) were not common. There were also low usage rates of IUDs (0.9%), vaginal barrier methods (0.6%) and implants (0.5%).<ref>[http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/family/trendsContraceptiveUse2015Report.pdf Trends in