Prevalence of infertility and its association with intimate partner violence in Tanzania: Findings from the 2022 Demographic and Health Survey

Objective
We first estimated the prevalence of primary and secondary infertility in Tanzania and then examined its association with recent experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV).

Methods
We used cross-sectional data from the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2022 and included 6894 women aged 20–49 years to estimate the prevalence of primary and secondary infertility. In a subset of 2802 partnered women who were surveyed about physical, emotional, and sexual IPV, we also examined the association of any form of IPV in the 12 months prior to the survey with both primary and secondary infertility using multivariable logistic regression.

Results
The prevalence of primary infertility was 1.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0, 3.1) and secondary infertility was 15.4% (95% CI: 2.1, 61.0). Primary infertility was higher in urban areas (1.9%) compared to rural areas (1.7%) (P < 0.001). Over one-third (37.9%) of the women who were surveyed concerning IPV reported experiencing at least one form of IPV in the 12 months prior to the survey. Almost one-fifth (18.3%) of women with secondary infertility had experienced at least one form of violence in the past 12 months prior to the survey, compared to 1.5% with primary infertility (P = 0.656). Women with secondary infertility were 1.58 times more likely to have experienced any form of IPV (aOR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.08, 2.33).

Conclusions
In Tanzania, the high prevalences of both infertility and IPV and the link between the two warrants the need for strengthening infertility care and treatment and support for women experiencing IPV.