The study assessed the prevalence and determinants of use of contraceptive among Tanzanian men. The overall prevalence of contraceptive use among men aged 15–49 in Tanzania is very low (26%). Little involvement of men in family planning issues might result into over population, poor maternal and child health outcomes, and impact on family well-being (Mosha & Ruben, 2013; Mzee, 2016; Van Hoyweghen et al., 2023). The significant factors to contraceptive use included age, education level, wealth quantile, occupation, parity and knowledge on contraceptive use. Prior descriptive statistics showed that the study population was mostly composed of young generation mostly at reproductive age as it indicated by the average age of 29 years. Majority of population found in rural area (66%), and this showed the need to focus interventions on addressing the contraceptive use challenges encountered by this group on both married (51%) and unmarried (49%) population. The substantial proportion (82%) of the population possessed knowledge of contraception methods indicated a promising likelihood of informed decision-making and adoption of family planning methods, potentially leading to a reduction in population growth as reported in other studies (Lyimo et al., 2024; Msovela et al., 2020). This emphasized the importance of education and awareness in promoting contraceptive use and responsible reproductive informed choices (Ochako et al., 2017). With high percentage (82%) of population having knowledge on contraceptive methods shows a high chance of the population making the right decision and start using family planning methods thus reducing the population (Mosha & Ruben, 2013). Moreover, radios (52%) have demonstrated effectiveness as a platform for disseminating family planning messages in this study and other studies (Msovela, 2016; Ochako et al., 2017; Sigalla & Charles, 2013). Hence, they may also prove beneficial in advocating for other health-related issues within communities.
Among those who use contraceptive, majority (90%) preferred modern methods in comparison with traditional methods which shows to be effective and reliable as it is supported by Frank (1990). In contrast, another study found that users, particularly women, thought modern contraceptives were less efficient in preventing pregnancy and were associated with concerns regarding infertility and cancer risk (Mosha & Ruben, 2013).
Contraceptive use exhibits substantial variation among different zones in Tanzania. The Southern and South West Highlands had higher rates of modern contraception use (38% and 32%), indicating better family planning awareness and access. In contrast, Zanzibar has the lowest prevalence rate at 8%, probably due to religious views that contraceptives opposing with religious beliefs and fears of infertility (Kielmann, 1998; Sigalla & Charles, 2013). The low level of modern contraceptive use in Zanzibar may also be influenced by limited awareness regarding the utilization of male contraceptive methods and family planning, as indicated by Sigalla & Charles (2013).
Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that both age and educational progress play a role in the utilization of contraceptives, indicating that maturity and educational attainment serve as factors promoting family planning among Tanzanian men, as it was also reported in other studies (Wondim et al., 2020). This emphasized the importance of education as a key element in improving the adoption of contraceptives and highlights the necessity for reproductive health education among adolescents to prevent unintended pregnancies (Lyimo et al., 2024). Moreover, with advancing age, it becomes increasingly probable that a man has initiated a family and has achieved the desired number of children compared to younger individuals. Furthermore, men from moderate to affluent socioeconomic backgrounds and those who are employed demonstrate a greater inclination towards using modern contraceptives in contrast to those from less privileged backgrounds. Increased wealth and employment enhance an individual's ability to afford modern family planning methods compared to those who are poorer or unemployed as it is supported by another study in Ghana (Boserup, 2009). Additionally, the majority of employed and affluent individuals are more likely to have received education, good income and exposure to family planning awareness, thereby increasing their likelihood of encountering family planning promotions (Tessema et al., 2021). This is in contrary to the study done in Ethiopia (Shaweno & Kura, 2020) where, the wealth index did not show an independent association with the use of modern contraceptives.
Moreover, having a higher number of children and expressing a desire to cease having more children correlates with increased contraceptive utilization compared to those with fewer children or no child and no such desire, a trend also observed in other studies (Msovela et al., 2020; Wondim et al., 2020). This finding aligns with another study, which found that visiting family planning facilities increased the likelihood of contraceptive use among men (Msovela et al., 2020). Interestingly, men's perception that women who use contraception are promiscuous influences their own contraceptive behavior, with those who do not hold such perceptions being less likely to utilize contraceptives
The study taps its uniqueness by assessing the use of contraceptive among men who are culturally taken to be the main decision makers and resources suppliers in the sexual relationship and family. This cater also for all issues related to health care utilization including reproductive health issues particularly on whether to use or not use contraceptives contrary to many other studies which assess use of FP using women who are in real sense just implementers of decisions already taken by men (Abeid et al., 2023; Kazaura et al., 2016; Kikula et al., 2022; Massenga et al., 2021; Msovela et al., 2020). The findings showed that as education increases also the use of family planning increases. This suggest that in order to improve the use of family planning among Tanzanian men increasing education is key. This finding is similar to the findings reported elsewhere (Lyimo et al., 2024; Wondim et al., 2020)
However, the study findings contradicted with the findings reported 60% contraceptive use among men in Kibaha, Tanzania (Msovela, 2016). Though the time of the study may have led to this remarkable difference in the prevalence as time differences among the two studies time is six years.
Limitations of the study
The cross-sectional nature of the study limited the establishment of causal-effect relationships between the variables.
The study analyzed the secondary data hence could inherently take the errors that are attached to the sampling design and other biases committed during data collection. Yet, overall, the use of national survey data as well as the use of weighting offers an advantage of eliminating many biases typically associated with pooling observational data, selection, and measurement bias.
The secondary nature of the study limited the analysis only to variables that were collected during the survey. Therefore, some of the variables could not be included due to not being included in the survey though acknowledged to be linked with use of contraceptives among men.