Abstract:
Introduction: Reproductive rights are the rights of all couples and individuals to decide and choose about reproduction without discrimination, coercion, and violence. Despite the influence of men on partners’ use of their reproductive rights and its negative impacts, the husbands’ knowledge on partners’ reproductive rights and associated factors remain not an area of concern till know both at national and study area.
Objective: The aim of the study was to assess husbands’ knowledge on partners’ reproductive rights and associated factors in Wolkite town, Southern, Ethiopia, 2021.
Methods: a Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 628 husbands in Wolkite town from March 1st to April 30th, 2021. A multi-stage stratified sampling and a systematic random sampling technique was used to select kebele and study participants respectively and data was collected using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. The data was entered into Epi data Version 3.1 and exported to SPSS Version 22 for analysis. COR and AOR together with 95% CI was carried out to see the relation between each independent variables on the dependent variables. A P-value <0.05 was considered as statistical significance.
Result: The prevalence of husbands’ good knowledge on partners’ reproductive rights was 47.8% (95%CI: 43.8, 51.8). Age of the husbands 25- 35 years old (AOR: 2.7;
95%CI: 1.1, 6.6), below primary education (AOR: 2.4; 95%CI: 1.3, 4.3), primary
education (AOR: 5.98; 95%CI: 3.10, 11.4), secondary education (AOR: 2.1; 95%CI: 1.0,
4.3), post-secondary education(AOR: 8.0; 95%CI: 4.3, 15.2), discussion with reproductive health related matters with partner (AOR: 3.2; 95%CI: 2.0, 5.2), and vehicle as a means of transport (AOR: 3.3;95%CI:2.2, 4.9) were statistically significant for good knowledge.
Conclusion and recommendations: The prevalence of having good husbands’ knowledge on partners’ reproductive rights at Wolkite town was 47.8%. Educational status was factors associated with husbands’ knowledge on partners’ reproductive rights. It still needs improvement to achieve the SDG 3. Therefore; integrating reproductive health rights at the early classes is required to improve the knowledge status of husbands towards the partners’ reproductive rights.
Key words: Husband; Knowledge, Partner; Reproductive Rights; Wolkite