Contraceptive use in the Gaza Strip: A systematic review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background: Between 2017-2019, the average total fertility rate in Gaza was 3.9 births per woman, which is significantly higher than the average global total fertility rate at 2.4 births per woman in 2018. Reliable family planning methods allow women and men to avoid unintended pregnancies and reduce maternal mortality. The purpose of this systematic review was to examine what is known about contraceptive use in the Gaza Strip, including: 1) common contraceptive methods used, 2) access to contraceptive services, and 3) barriers impacting family planning services.Methods: The review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Articles published in the English language within the last 10 years (2013 to 2023) were screened from the following databases: CINAHL, PubMed, and Google Scholar.Results: Seven articles were included in the final analysis. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was found to be the main family planning service provider in the Gaza Strip (61%). Intrauterine devices (35.4%) were found to be the main method of contraception. Factors identified that impact contraceptive use included: 1) access to contraceptives, 2) cultural beliefs, 3) demographic characteristics (e.g., occupation and education), and 4) healthcare provider (HCP) and system influence. The restriction of goods into the Gaza Strip continues to impact contraceptive accessibility. Educational interventions should focus on addressing contraceptive misconceptions among Gazan women and HCPs while giving special attention to cultural beliefs (e.g., desire for several children) and demographic characteristics, specifically relating to occupation and education status.Conclusion: Unintended pregnancies are preventable through the effective use of contraceptives. Future studies should prioritize interventions aimed at overcoming barriers to contraceptive use in the Gaza Strip, thereby promoting and safeguarding Gazan individuals' ability to exercise their reproductive health rights freely.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.008 | 0.032 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.007 | 0.007 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.010 | 0.013 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.004 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.004 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".