Uptake of modern contraceptives in Burkina Faso: men’s involvement, polygamy and peer effects

Women of monogamous or polygamous couples who do not use modern contraceptives yet will receive a voucher that gives them access to free modern contraceptives at the nearest local health centre.

Monogamous couples where the woman already uses modern contraceptives will be asked to transfer the voucher to someone else in their village who does not use modern contraceptives yet.

2018-05-22

2018-09-01

The main outcome variables for all treatment comparisons are the use of the voucher (i.e. whether it is used, and how long the participant waits before using the voucher) and whether any modern contraceptives are used immediately after the visit (short-term effects) and a few months later (long-term effects). For couples who are asked to transfer the voucher, we are also interested in whether that is actually done, as well as the characteristics of the persons they transfer it to.

Additional outcome variables are fertility, women’s well-being and intra-household cooperation/tensions.

With this trial, we study the influence of men’s involvement on the uptake of modern contraceptives in 30 rural villages in the region of Hauts-Bassins, Burkina Faso. Women who do not use modern contraceptives yet will receive a voucher that gives them access to free modern contraceptives at the nearest local health centre. We will compare two treatments that vary in men’s involvement: either the voucher is given in private (no involvement of men), or it is given to her husband, with her being present. We will stratify by the type of households (monogamous and polygamous households), to test whether the effect of men’s involvement differs between both types of households. Monogamous couples where the woman already uses modern contraceptives will be asked to transfer the voucher to someone else in their village who does not use modern contraceptives yet. Here, we compare two treatments that differ in who receives the voucher from us (either the woman in private, or the husband in private). A comparison between both treatments allows us to compare peer effects between men and women. The main outcome variables for all treatment comparisons are the use of the voucher and whether any modern contraceptives are used immediately after the visit (short-term effects) and a few months later (long-term effects). For couples who are asked to transfer the voucher, we are also interested in whether that is actually done, as well as the characteristics of the persons they transfer it to. Additional outcome variables are fertility, women’s well-being and intra-household cooperation/tensions.

Randomization done by algorithm on electronic data collection devices (tablets) as programmed with Open Data Kit.

Couple

No

No clusters, as randomization is done at the couple level.

2000 couples

600 couples of monogamous households who do not use modern contraceptives: with 300 of them we will give the voucher to the woman in private; with the other 300 we will give the voucher to the husband with the woman being present.

600 couples of polygamous households who do not use modern contraceptives: with 300 of them we will give the voucher to the woman in private; with the other 300 we will give the voucher to the husband with the woman being present.

800 couples of monogamous households who already use contraceptives: with 400 of them we will give the voucher to the woman in private to transfer it to someone else; with the other 400 we will give the voucher to the husband in private.

We anticipate that with a number of 300 participants per arm we are able to detect a change in contraceptive use by 11 points assuming a baseline rate of 40%, a power of 80% and a statistical significance of 5% and no attrition.

Pre-analysis plan