Emergency contraceptive use and associated factors among undergraduate female students in Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia

Unwanted pregnancy can occur due to unprotected sexual intercourse and condom breakage. To prevent such problem, emergency contraceptives is the only method that can be used after unprotected sex. This study aimed to assess emergency contraceptive utilization and associated factors among regular undergraduate female students of Wollo University.  A cross sectional study was conducted from April 1 to 15, 2017. Simple random sampling was used and 508 study subjects participated with response rate of 100%. Among the total respondents, 41.9% had sexual intercourse at least once prior to this study. Of those who had sexual intercourse, 19.7% had sexual intercourse without condom/contraception.  From all respondents, 68.1% of the respondents have ever heard about emergency contraception, but only 30.9% used emergency contraception after unprotected sexual intercourse. Currently, unmarried students were 3.8 times more likely to use emergency contraceptive than currently married students (AOR: 3.8, 95% CI: 0.904 to 0.269). Those students who began sexual intercourse at age 13 years or less were 4.7 times more likely to use emergency contraceptive than those students who began sexual intercourse above age 13 years (AOR: 4.7, 95% CI: 1.403 to 15.769). Emergency contraceptive utilization was low among sexually active students after unprotected sexual debut. Sexual and reproductive health education program should be set up for the university students to avail accurate information about emergency contraception. Key words: Emergency cotraceptive use, Wollo University, female students.