Practice of contraception in premarital and marital sexual relationship among Myanmar youth migrants in Bang Bon districts, Bangkok and their reproductive health services accessibility

Abstract

Migration becomes a global issue nowadays not only in economic but also in health aspects. Thailand is one of the major migrant receiving countries in South East Asia. More than 80% of migrant workers in Thailand are Myanmar and concentrated in the age group of 15-24 years. No matter where they settle, it is always true that the migrant youths suffer the health problems and inaccessibility more than the native youths. The objective of this study is to assess the sexual practice and contraceptive usage among Myanmar migrant youths in Bang Bon District in Bangkok and their reproductive health services accessibility. The study was cross-sectional descriptive study carried out by face to face interviewing to 413 migrant youths (15-24 years). The results were analyzed by chi square test, Fisher’s Exact test and Logistic Regression to see the independent variables as associated factors to the current contraception practice. The results revealed that 24.7% of migrant youths had premarital sexual relationship and 60.0% of both married and unmarried youths used contraception in their premarital and marital sexual relationship. However, their knowledge towards STIs and contraception was quite low but their attitude and belief were satisfactorily fair and good. After multivariate analysis, marital status (<0.001), duration of stay in Bangkok (0.001), persons staying together (<0.001), discussion about contraception with their partners (0.001), their level of knowledge (0.027) and attitude (0.005) and health information availability (0.005) were found statistically associated with their current usage of contraception. Overall findings indicated that though the migrant youths practice contraception widely, their level of knowledge was still low indicating their needs of health information. This study indicates that effective communication, information dissemination, sexual health counseling become crucial needs to the migrant youths who are vulnerable to sexual and reproductive health risks. Exploring the differences of the findings of this study and the previous studies, qualitative study would be helpful for the health policy makers of migrants to have better understanding of the youths’ nature regarding sexual and reproductive health