Reproduction, risk and reality: Family planning and reproductive health in Northern Vietnam

In collaboration with the National Committee for Population and Family Planning, a study was conducted in 1994 in two Vietnamese communes to provide community level information on women's reproductive health and behaviours. A survey of 504 rural and 523 urban women collected five-year histories of reproduction, contraception, abortion and symptoms of Reproductive Tract Infections (RTI). This analysis focuses on the relationships between women's individual characteristics, use of family planning and abortion, and reported RTI symptoms. The findings reveal that IUDs do not raise women's likelihood of experiencing RTI symptoms in either commune. A recent abortion, however, strongly increases women's likelihood of having RTI symptoms in the rural commune, while low socio-economic status is associated with RTI symptoms in the urban commune.