The effect of access to contraceptive services on injectable use and demand for family planning in Malawi.

Context: Previous studies have identified positive relationships between geographic proximity to family planning services and contraceptive use, but have not accounted for the effect of contraceptive supply reliability or the diminishing influence of facility access with increasing distance.

Methods: Kernel density estimation was used to geographically link Malawi women's use of injectable contraceptives and demand for birth spacing or limiting, as drawn from the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey, with contraceptive logistics data from family planning service delivery points. Linear probability models were run to identify associations between access to injectable services-measured by distance alone and by distance combined with supply reliability-and injectable use and family planning demand among rural and urban populations.