Bivariate Multilevel Modeling of Modern Contraceptive Use and Knowledge of HIV/AIDS Prevention of Women in Ethiopia

Abstract Background: Ethiopia is one of the most populous countries in Africa and has the highest number of new HIV infections. Therefore, the main objectives of this study were to demonstrate the joint predictors and association between modern contraceptive use and knowledge of HIV prevention in women aged 15-49 across clusters in Ethiopia.Methods: This study considered a weighted sample of 10,223 married women aged 15-49 years, extracted from the 2016 EDHS data. The bivariate multilevel logistics regression model was used in this study.Results: In Ethiopia, 64.75%, 54.58% of the women didn’t use the modern contraceptive method and didn’t know about HIV prevention, respectively. A positive relationship between the use of modern contraceptives and knowledge of HIV prevention of women across the clusters was found, which implies that modern contraceptive use has positive implications on women's knowledge of HIV prevention techniques across the clusters.Conclusions: Predictor visiting a health facility, wealth index, media exposure, religion, place of residence, and the contextual region are statistically related with the use of modern contraceptive use and knowledge of HIV prevention of women across the clusters. Those women who use the modern contraceptive method have more likelihood of knowing about HIV prevention. The study result confirmed that modern contraceptive use has a spillover effect on women's knowledge of HIV prevention across the clusters. Therefore, the integration of the two programs with taking into account their joint predictors was an advantage in terms of clinical benefit, cost, and for seeking care individuals in the communities. The integration of two programs with due consideration of community-specific was recommended.