Analyzing Attitudes Towards Contraception & Teenage Pregnancy Using Social Data

Pulse Lab Kampala and UNFPA collaborated on a project to explore the use of real-time digital data to understand debate among Ugandans on contraception and teenage pregnancy, and to analyse perceptions towards different types of contraception. The project resulted in a real-time interactive dashboard that analyses public Facebook posts and data from UNICEF’s U-report (a SMS-based polling system for Ugandan youth) for keywords related to contraception and teenage pregnancy. The dashboard allows for tracking of emerging and trending topics and perceptions related to family planning month by month. This project demonstrated the potential of using social data to supplement traditional means of gaining insights through less-frequent national surveys.