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Abstract
Background: Emergency contraception (EC) - the ‘best kept secret’ of reproductive health - is an oft-neglected subject. Although a variety of forms and initiatives promoting ECs are available, ECs are highly underutilized.
Objectives: Our study assesses the awareness of Emergency contraceptives and their use among women presenting to the OPD of the gynecology department in public tertiary hospitals of Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study, using a validated questionnaire, was conducted in June 2025 on 107 women selected by convenience sampling. We used SPSS v27 for data analysis. Awareness and use of EC were measured; the Chi-square test of independence was used to assess the association of different demographic variables with awareness of ECs, and binary logistic regression analysis was applied for significant demographic variables using awareness and no awareness as outcome variables.
Results: Out of the 107 participants, 33.6% of the participants had heard about EC, while only 0.9% had ever used it. Most of the participants (72%) knew that EC use is not the same as abortion. Furthermore, 34.6% of women affirmed that they would use ECs if they had more information regarding them. Participants with below a college education were 66% less likely to have heard about ECs than those with a college education. A p-value of <0.05 and 95% CI was adopted.
Conclusion: This study concludes that awareness and use of ECs are lacking among the target population because of various factors, including misconceptions.
Keywords: Awareness, Emergency contraception, Tertiary hospital