Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This study analyses to what extent having a migrant in the household influences the knowledge/use of birth control among non-migrant Afghan women. Using data from the Afghan Mortality Survey (2010), knowledge/use of contraceptives was compared for Pashtun and non-Pashtun women separately for households with and without migrants. Findings suggest that non-Pashtun women with a migrant showed greater knowledge of injectables, the pill and the lactational amenorrhea method compared to those women without a migrant. Less knowledge, however, is observed for these women with a migrant in their household on male sterilization and emergency contraception compared to the non-Pashtun women without a migrant. In contrast, we show that Pashtun women with a migrant in the household had lower knowledge and usage of birth control methods than women without migrant household members. Migrants potentially can be health-related development agents; but the health information migrants receive and remit varies by destination country context.