Ermias Bekele Enyew ^1* Abiyu Abadi Tareke ² Habtamu Setegn Ngusie ³ Mulugeta Desalegn Kasaye ¹ Shimels Derso Kebede ¹ Mahider Shimelis Feyisa ⁴

• ¹ Department of Health Informatics, college of medicine and health sciences, Wollo University, Ethiopia, dessie, Ethiopia
• ² Amref health in Africa, COVID-219 vaccine/EPI technical assistant at West Gondar zonal health department, Gondar, Ethiopia., Gondar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia
• ³ Department of Health Informatics, School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Woldia University, Woldia, Ethiopia, Woldia, Ethiopia
• ⁴ Department of Medical Laboratory Science, College of Health Sciences, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia

The campaign to encourage sexually active women to utilize family planning is one of the primary initiatives being undertaken globally to reduce unintended pregnancies and fertility rates. Evidence suggests that family planning measures can lower this maternal mortality ratio by nearly 25 percent. As far as my literature search there is no known, study has reported in the study area to assess utilization and factors associated with use of long-acting contraceptive mothed among women of reproductive age. Therefore, this study aimed to assess long-acting contraceptives mothed uptake and associated factors among women of reproductive age groups in East Africa.: A weighted total of 50,525 women in the reproductive age group were included in this study. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in the 12 East African countries. The pooled prevalence of long-acting contraceptive uptake with a 95% Confidence Interval (CI) was reported and presented in a forest plot for East Africa Countries using STATA version 14.1. Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC), Likelihood Ratio (LR) test, Median Odds Ratio (MOR), and deviance (-2LLR) values were used for model comparison and fitness. Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR) with a 95% Confidence Interval (CI) and p-value ≤ 0.05 in the multilevel logistic model were used to declare significant factors associated with long-acting contraceptive uptake.Results: the overall prevalence of long-acting contraceptive methods in East African countries was 19.41% (95% CI: 19.07%, 19.76%). In the multilevel logistic regression analysis; being in the age group 35 to 49 [AOR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.17], being who were married [AOR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.56], being media exposed [AOR = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.13]. Moreover, living urban areas [AOR = 1.23, 95%CI: 1.14, 1.32], and living in the highest household wealth index [AOR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.17] were significantly associated with long-acting contraceptive uptake.The overall utilization of long acting contraceptive methods was low. Therefore, Future interventions should be planned to target younger age groups of women, lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and living in rural areas, to improve the LACMs uptake.