Women in Rwanda who used the internet showed slightly higher odds of using modern contraceptives, according to a secondary analysis of the 2019–2020 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey published in Contraception and Reproductive Medicine. The finding, drawn from a large nationally representative sample, comes with an important caveat: the association was statistically uncertain, and the study design cannot show that internet use causes greater contraceptive uptake.
The study analysed data from 7,290 sexually active women aged 15 to 49 years who were included in the Demographic and Health Survey. The researchers, led by Samuel Ndayishimye, examined the relationship between internet use and modern contraceptive use using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and logistic regression.
Among the women in the sample, the modern contraceptive prevalence rate was 58.8 percent, while 10.9 percent reported using internet services. These figures frame the central question of the analysis: whether women with digital access, and therefore greater potential exposure to online health information, differ in their contraceptive behaviour from those without such access.
After adjusting for other factors, the researchers found that women who used the internet had about 16 percent higher odds of modern contraceptive use compared with women who did not. The adjusted odds ratio was 1.16, with a 95 percent confidence interval of 0.93 to 1.45. Because this interval includes the value of 1.0, the estimate does not reach conventional statistical significance, meaning the data are compatible with anything from a modest positive association to no association at all. The authors describe the direction of the effect as an increase in odds, but readers should treat the magnitude as an estimate with substantial uncertainty.
The analysis also identified several other predictors of modern contraceptive use among the surveyed women. These included age, marital status, educational level, religion, occupation, and the number of living children. The inclusion of these variables in the regression model is what allows the internet-use estimate to be described as adjusted, since it accounts for differences in these characteristics between internet users and non-users.
The study used a cross-sectional design, meaning that all data were collected at a single point in time. This design can identify associations between variables but cannot establish temporal order or causation. It is possible, for example, that women who choose to use contraceptives are also more likely to seek out health information online, or that unmeasured characteristics influence both internet access and contraceptive decisions. The authors note that the study was designed to fill a gap in knowledge about the link between internet use and modern contraceptive use among Rwandan women, where prevalence of modern contraceptive use remains low as in much of sub-Saharan Africa.
The theoretical basis for the research is straightforward: internet access can promote exposure to information about postponing childbearing, preventing unintended pregnancy, child spacing, and limiting family size. Whether that exposure translates into behaviour change is the empirical question the survey data were used to address, and the answer suggested by this analysis is tentative rather than definitive.
Based on their findings, the authors recommend that strategies to improve modern contraceptive use among Rwandan women of reproductive age should include providing appropriate, easily accessible internet information about modern contraceptives. They also call for government investment in appropriate social marketing of modern contraceptives through internet services. Any such policy conclusions should be weighed against the statistical uncertainty in the central estimate and the observational nature of the data.
The published version analysed here is being shared early as a peer-reviewed, accepted manuscript that is citable and carries a permanent DOI, subject to further edits before the final version of record. For now, the study adds a measured data point to the ongoing discussion of how digital access may relate to reproductive health behaviour in Rwanda, without settling the question of cause and effect.
Subject of Research: The association between internet use and modern contraceptive uptake among sexually active women of reproductive age in Rwanda, using 2019–2020 Demographic and Health Survey data.
Article Title: Association between internet use and modern contraceptive uptake among women of reproductive age in Rwanda: evidence from the 2019–2020 Rwanda DHS
Article References: Ndayishimye, S., Olorunfemi, G., Nahayo, B., Oladokun, A., & Mukanyangezi, M. F. (2026). Association between internet use and modern contraceptive uptake among women of reproductive age in Rwanda: evidence from the 2019–2020 Rwanda DHS. Contraception and Reproductive Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40834-026-00471-x
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1186/s40834-026-00471-x
Keywords: Rwanda, modern contraceptives, internet use, Demographic and Health Survey, reproductive health, cross-sectional study, women of reproductive age, contraceptive prevalence, logistic regression, sub-Saharan Africa, Association, between
News Source: Ophelia Keating. (October 29, 2026). Internet use linked to modest rise in modern contraceptive uptake among Rwandan women. Scienmag.
