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Acceptance And Utilisation Of Family Planning Services Amongst Secondary School Students
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to Study
Family
planning is widely acknowledged as an important intervention towards
achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) four (4) and five (5) as
it has proven to reduce maternal and child mortality. Family planning
can prevent unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions. Some family
planning methods such as condom usage can protect individuals from
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS. Family
planning has also been found to promote gender equality as well as
promote educational and economic empowerment for women. Despite the
enormous benefits of family planning services, the uptake of the service
still remains low in Sub-Saharan Africa. This has resulted into high
rates of unwanted pregnancies, unplanned deliveries, unsafe abortions
and maternal mortalities in Sub-Saharan Africa of which Nigeria is no
exception. The low uptake of family planning is largely blamed on many
factors. It has been observed that the awareness of the availability of
family planning services has a great influence on the uptake of family
planning services. Additionally, even though some women are aware of the
availability of family planning services, they are not properly
informed about the various forms of family planning methods and how they
work. Some of the women who went for family planning services were not
adequately counselled on the side effects of some of the family planning
methods. For example, in Uganda, some women stopped using
contraceptives after they experienced what they perceived were side
effects of the contraceptives.
Although most people are aware of the
benefits of family planning services, they complained that it was
difficult to access family planning services as such services were
provided by health facilities that were far from their homes. In
addition, religious inclination has been noted to be a major constrain
to the uptake of family planning services in Africa. Also, some
individuals perceived that family planning services were meant for only
married couples whilst others fear that they will become sexually
promiscuous if they go for family planning services once they cannot
become pregnant. In Nigeria, some efforts have been made by the
government of Nigeria and non-governmental organizations through the
implementation of various programmes to improve the coverage of family
planning services in the country. Although some successes have been
chucked in the area of awareness of family planning services in the
country, the unmet need for family planning still remains high. The
Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) observed that a large
number of women have an unmet need for family planning as the acceptor
rate for family planning services remains low.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]Family planning is an important preventive measure against maternal and child morbidity and mortality. It is an essential component of primary health care and reproductive health. There is relatively high fertility rate in suburban and rural Nigeria despite the efforts of government and other non-governmental family planning services providers. This study sought to investigate the acceptance and utilisation of family planning services amongst secondary school students in Kakwalaka Village, Bendi ... Continue reading---
