Inventaire d'enquêtes Demostaf

Contraceptive Demand in the Sahel: Convergence of Views Between Men and their Wives

The low level of contraceptive practice in the countries of the Sahel is often attributed to failings of the family planning services, the existence of a demand for contraception, evidenced by surveys on women, being taken as a fact. This article re-examines the issue of contraceptive demand by considering the expectations of men as well as of women, and finally of couples. Analysis is based on the DHS surveys in Burkina Faso (1993) and Mali (1995-1996), the case of Ghana (1993) being used as a point of comparison. The results indicate a strong heterogeneity in contraceptive demand. Demand for birth control is high among women but is much lower among men and is almost insignificant when measured at the level of couples. This heterogeneity is a major obstacle to the spread of contraception, since men play a decisive role in the adoption of contraceptive practice. In Mali as in Burkina Faso, the probability of using contraception is related primarily to the wishes of men, while the views of women carry little weight. However, this pattern appears to be changing among the younger generations, where the aspirations of men and women are less sharply contrasted.