Sexual Practices of Women Within Six Months of Childbirth in Mulago Hospital, Uganda

Objectives: To establish the sexual practices and their associated morbidity among women within 6 months of childbirth in Kampala Uganda. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting: The three Mulago hospital child immunization clinics. Participants: Two hundred and seventeen eligible mothers took part in the study from November to December 2001. Outcome measures: Time to resumption of sexual intercourse after childbirth, reasons for resumption and problems associated with it. Methods: Partially coded questionnaires Results: Sexual intercourse was resumed by 66.4% of the women within six months of childbirth. Of these 49.3% did so during the puerperium. The main reasons for early resumption of sexual intercourse were husbands' demands, cultural demands and inherent inability to do without sexual intercourse but not level of education of mothers. Of the mothers who resumed sexual intercourse 22.2% had sexual problems. The problems included vaginal pain (62.5%), discharge (18.8%), bleeding (15.6%) and bruises or tears (3.1%). Perineal or genital damage at the time of delivery was not associated with a delayed resumption of sexual intercourse with (OR1.08, 95% CI 0.51-2.30). Of those who had sexual intercourse and had problems only 59.4% sought medical assistance. The reasons for not resuming sexual intercourse within six months of delivery included advise from health workers (38.4%), husbands were away (21.9%), no interest (21.9%) and not feeling well(17.8%). Conclusion: Most women resumed sexual intercourse within six months of childbirth and had high morbidity. There is need for appropriate postpartum sexual practice advice. Site of study: Mulago hospital.