A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE DEFINITION AND MEASUREMENT OF UNMET NEED FORCONTRACEPTION

A new, health-based concept of unmet need for contraception identifies women for whom pregnancy would raise the mortality risk for themselve s, their expected child or their previous child because of maternal ag e, short birth interval or high birth order. When applied to Demograph ic and Health Survey data for Sri Lanka, the method classifies 4-23% o f currently married women as being in need of contraception, depending on whether women wile are pregnant, abstaining or using traditional m ethods are considered as potentially in need. The usual concept of unm et need, based on women's stated fertility preferences, classifies 6-3 1% as in need. The preference-based approach identifies 50-90% of the women with health-based unmet need, performing better when women using traditional methods and those abstaining from sex are included as pot entially in need and when pregnant women are not. The health-based app roach identifies 43-65% of those with preference-based unmet need, per forming better when pregnant women are included and women using tradit ional methods are not.