الفهرس 
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Abstract
”Unmet need” for FP refers to a discrepancy between expressed fertility goals and contraceptive practice. However, it is now well established and documented that, there is still considerable unwanted childbearing throughout the world and great continuing dissatisfaction with the FP options available. Data from recent DHS surveys in Egypt have shown a gap between reproductive intentions and contraceptive use, that was declined from about 23 in 1988 to 15 in 1998. Although Egypt will need continued concentrated efforts of both governmental and non-governmental agencies to discover the different groups of women and couples who do not yet meet their needs for family planning. The present study aimed to : 1) determine unmet needs for FP among a group of MWRA (15-49 years) attending MCH-centers in Alexandria. 2) identify reasons for unmet needs, and 3) identify factors associated with unmet needs. Present study was designed as a cross-sectional one. One MCH-center was selected randomly from each of the seven administrative districts in Alexandria. Studied sample was selected by systematic random sampling procedure (1:3), where it was totalled 1197 women. The field work started at February 1999 to August 1999. Present work adopted the most recent DHS concept at late nineties to estimate unmet need for FP. Studied sample was categorized into 278 currently pregnant, 318 currently amenorrheic and 601 neither pregnant nor amenorrheic women. Present work estimated unmet need category according to DHS-definition as follows : Unmet need for spacing births : pregnant women whose pregnancy mistimed, amenorrheic women whose last birth was mistimed, and women who were neither pregnant nor amenorrheic who say they want to wait two or more years before the next birth, or are unsure whether they want or when to have another child and are not using any FP method. Unmet need for limiting births : pregnant women whose pregnancy was unwanted, amenorrheic women whose last birth was unwanted, and women who are neither pregnant nor amenorrheic and want no more children, but are not using any FP method. Currently pregnant or amenorrheic who became pregnant while using a FP method were excluded (85). Present work used a structured interview questionnaire, which designed to collect data about : a. Sociodemographic status. b. Reproductive profile : gravidity, parity, abortions, history of child loss, number of living children, wanted current pregnancy or last birth, desire for more children ... etc. c. Contraceptive history : most recent method used, current used, intention for future use ... etc. d. Opinions of a subgroup of women requiring FP services on the quality of care of FP services and a scoring system was developed by the researcher guided by supervisors. The present study illustrated the following results : 1. The level of unmet need for FP was 28.7 of studied MWRA and the remaining 71.3 was met need for FP. 2. The level of unmet need for FP by including pregnant or amenorrheic women who became pregnant due to contraceptive failure, was 33.8. 3. The majority of MWRA in needs for family planning which were unmet for limiting (19.3) more than spacing (9.4). 4. The majority of women with unmet needs were currently pregnant or amenorrheic (253 women) constituted more than three quarters of the estimated level (28.7). 5. There was a significant relationship between woman’s current age and unmet needs for FP. Unmet need for spacing tended to increase among the youngest women and the reverse was true, while the unmet need for limiting tended to increase among the eldest women, and thus the reverse was true. 6. Higher education of both wives and husbands had associated significantly with lowering unmet need. 7. Working MWRA had shown a decreased level of unmet need in comparison with not-working. 8. Unmet need had increased significantly as social class decreased. 9. Unmet need had significantly tended to increase among spacers with the lowest gravidity and the reverse was true. On the other hand, it significantly tended to increase among limiters of highest gravidity, and the reverse was true. 10. Unmet need was lowered for spacing among women of higher parity, and it lowered for limiting among women of lower parity. 11. Family size and crowding index were factors that significantly associated with unmet needs. Spacing unmet need had decreased among those of large family size (7 or more) and crowding index (4 or more) while reached its highest level among smallest family size (3 or 4) and crowding index (< 2). On the other hand, limiting unmet need was increased with increasing family size and crowding index. 12. Number of living children had significantly related to unmet needs for FP, where unmet need tended to increase among spacers with the least number of children, and the reverse was true. On the other hand, unmet need tended to increase among limiters having more children, and the reverse was also true. 13. Unmet need for both spacing and limiting births was increased significantly by decreasing number of FP methods known