Determinants of Abortion in Sierra Leone Using The 2013 Demographic Health Survey Data

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: It is estimated that a woman dies every eight minutes somewhere in a developing country as a result of unsafe abortion. Sierra Leone is classified as a category two under the world‟s abortion laws meaning abortion is only permitted when it is performed to protect a woman‟s life and health. It has some of the worst maternal health indicators in subSahara Africa- whilst the regional Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) is 647 deaths per 100,000 live births, the country has 857 deaths per 100,000 live births. The above situation has been compounded by the fact that the health system is not functioning properly.

 The civil war (1991- 2002) and the Ebola outbreak (2014-2015) have resulted in the loss of both human resources and the physical infrastructure of the health system. Recent report shows one in seventeen women of reproductive age in Sierra Leone have a lifetime risk of death associated with childbirth. OBJECTIVE: To assess the determinants of abortion in Sierra Leone using the 2013 Demographic Health Survey data. METHODS: Data from 9,535 female respondents of the 2013 Sierra Leone Demographic Health Survey were used. The outcome measure is women who ever had a terminated pregnancy. Stata SE version14 was used to analyse the data. Chi-square, Fisher exact test and logistic regression models were used to determine associations between selected variables and outcome measure. RESULTS: The following demographic variables significantly influenced abortion; age (χ2=158.9578, P< 0.001), education (χ2=37.3905, P