Background and methodology This study determined the unmet need for family planning among HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals living in western Uganda. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who were randomly selected from HIV testing lists. Of those individuals, further analysis was conducted on a subset of 206 participants who did not desire more children and were not using a highly effective method of contraception. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate methods were performed to assess the relationship between HIV status and unmet need for effective family planning.

Results The unmet need for effective family planning was much greater in HIV-infected individuals compared to HIV-negative individuals [75.0% vs 33.8%, adjusted odds ratio (OR) 3.97, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.97–8.03, p<0.001]. Females were more likely to report an unmet need compared to males (69.0% vs 49.5%; adjusted OR 1.94, 95% CI 0.94–4.00, p=0.071). Other predictors of unmet need for effective family planning were older age (adjusted OR 1.08 for each year of age, 95% CI 1.00–1.16, p=0.018) and single/cohabiting vs being married (OR 2.36, 95% CI 1.16–4.80, p=0.036). Being on antiretroviral therapy was not a predictor of having a lower unmet need for effective family planning methods.

Discussion and conclusions There is high unmet need for effective family planning in HIV-positive study participants in a region of western Uganda, which should be of concern. This suggests that HIV-infected individuals do not want to use family planning or encounter barriers to accessing and utilising family planning services. Family planning programmes and HIV care and prevention services have to work together more effectively to create services conducive to clients from both programmes.