Postpartum fertility behaviours and contraceptive use among women in rural Ghana.

Background: Although most women would want to wait for more than two years before having another baby, their fertility behaviours during the first year following birth may decrease or increase the length of the birth interval. The objectives of this study were to: assess how protected postpartum women in the Mfantseman municipal were against pregnancy, based on their patterns of amenorrhoea and sexual abstinence; determine the timing of postpartum contraception in relation to amenorrhoea and sexual abstinence; and determine the predictors of postpartum contraceptive use.

Methods: This was a prospective study carried out in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central region of Ghana.