Willingness to use digital application to increase awareness and enhance uptake of family planning services amongst women of reproductive age in Zambia

Introduction: Despite progress over the last decade, uptake of family planning services remains a challenge in Zambia. Interventions delivered by mobile phone could help increase uptake and continuation of contraception, particularly among hard-to-reach populations. The aim of this study was to investigate willingness of women of reproductive age to using a mobile based application to improve uptake to family planning services in selected communities of Zambia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in two selected communities of Mumbwa district between October-November 2021. Community Health Volunteers were responsible for mapping households within the catchment areas and administering survey questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were calculated for dichotomous and categorical variables. To assess associations between categorical variables, Chi-square tests were performed. All data analyses were carried out using STATA version 14.2. Results: A total of 449 participants were surveyed, from Bulungu Urban Health Centre (UHC) and Najanjoli Rural Health Centre (RHC). Most participants were between 15 and 24 years (42.54%). Only 2.46% of participants reported no formal education, with the majority having attained a secondary school level of education (52.13%). Half of households (51.70%) possessed phones, among which only 30% (126/440) were smartphones. Furthermore, 83.41% (367/450) were willing to receive family planning messages via phones. A much higher proportion of unemployed participants (73.02%; P<005), those who accessed services from Bulungu UHC (60.33%: p<005) and married women (83.65%: p<005) were willing to receive planning messages on phones. Conclusion: This study demonstrates strong willingness to use digital application to increase awareness and enhance uptake of family planning services amongst women of reproductive age in rural settings of Zambia. These findings support the feasibility of implementing digital/phone-based strategies in community health systems to increase access to health care. Further research is needed to design and evaluate scalable mobile health solutions tailored to the local context.