Abstract

Background: Family planning deals with reproductive health of mother, having adequate birth spacing, avoiding undesired pregnancies and abortion, preventing sexually transmitted disease, and improving the quality of life of mother, Foestus, and family as a whole.

Objective to evaluate the knowledge and practice of family planning among women of child bearing age in the Likomba community. Method: A cross sectional quantitative study design was employed, the study population involved women who are of child bearing age 15-49 years in the Likomba community of Tiko, a convenience random sampling technique was used, well-structured questionnaires were used to gather information. Microsoft excel 2010 and results presented on pie chart, histogram and frequency, table base on the demographic data and specific objectives.

Results: results revealed that, majority of the participants had knowledge on FP in which most of the participants were currently on FP and were not this study goes in line with the work by respondents were using FP ,Regarding the benefit of FP, majority of the participants agreed that FP reduces unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion, belief that FP reduces poverty and enhance good life while few did not, Based on the negative aspect of FP, half of the participant agree with the fact that with FP one could still get pregnant.

Conclusion: most of the participant agreed that FP reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion, ensures women empowerment, reduce poverty, is importance for both men and women, Recommendations: FP should be Integrated in the rest of the clinic not to be delivered in only MCHC clinic and also women should be included in MCHC package.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Family planning (FP) is defined as a way of thinking and living that is adopted voluntary upon the bases of knowledge, attitude and responsible decision by individual or couples, World Health Organization (WHO, 2006). Family planning refers to a conscious effort by a couple or an individual to limit or space the number of children they have through the use of contraceptive methods. Ethiopia Demographic Health Survey (EDHS, 2016). Family planning deals with reproductive health of mother, having adequate birth spacing, avoiding undesired pregnancies and abortion, preventing sexually transmitted disease, and improving the quality of life of mother, foestus, and family as a whole.

Globally, 966 million women of reproductive age are using some method of contraception. Among 1.9 billion women of reproductive age (15-49 years), an estimated 874 million women use a modern contraceptive method and 92 million, a traditional contraceptive method. The number of modern contraceptive users has nearly doubled worldwide since 1990 (from 467 million). Yet, there are still 164 million women who want to delay or avoid pregnancy and are not using any contraceptive method, and thus are considered to have an unmet need for family planning. 3. Progress in meeting the global need for family planning with modern methods has continued.

The proportion of women of reproductive age (aged 15-49 years) who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods (SDG indicator 3.7.1) is 77 per cent globally, a 10-percentage point increase since 1990 (67 per cent). This progress occurred in spite of the fact that the number of women with a need for family planning has increased from 0.7 billion in 1990 to 1.1 billion today.4.

Use of modern contraceptive methods in sub-Saharan Africa remains lower than in other regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of women who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods (SDG indicator 3.7.1) continues to be among the lowest in the world at 56 per cent. Nevertheless, it also increased faster than in any other region of the world, having more than doubled since 1990, when this proportion was only 24 per cent. 5. In sub-Saharan Africa, national experiences vary greatly in meeting the need for family planning. Among 10 countries that witnessed the largest increase in the use of modern methods among women with need for family planning (SDG indicator 3.7.1) from 1990 to 2021, 8 are in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia, Eswatini, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. Yet, among 41 countries where still less than half of women who want to avoid pregnancy are using modern methods, 22 countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. 6.

Generally, contraceptive use is highest among women in ages between 25 and 44 years. At the global level as well as regionally, the proportion of women who want to avoid pregnancy and the proportion of women using any contraceptive method are highest among women aged 25 to 44 years and lowest among women below age 25. 7. Largest gaps in meeting the need for family planning are among young women and adolescents.

Globally, the greatest increase since 2000 in the proportion of women who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods is amongst those aged 15 to 24 years. It increased for adolescents (15-19 years) from 45 per cent in 2000 to 61 per cent in 2020 and for young women aged 20 to 24 from 57 per cent to 66 per cent over the same period. Despite these increases, the proportion of women who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods remains low compared to other ages – for women above age 30, it is more than 75 per cent.8.

Contraceptive methods used by married women differ from those used by unmarried women. Of the 820 million users who are married or in a cohabiting union, 48 per cent use permanent or long-acting reversible contraceptives and 41 per cent use short-acting methods. By contrast, of the 146 million users who are unmarried and not in a cohabiting union, most of whom are young, only 20 per cent use permanent or long-acting methods and 69 per cent use short-acting methods. 9. Most-used contraceptive methods differ significantly between regions. Short-acting methods are the most used methods in five of the eight regions: Australia and New Zealand, Latin America and the Caribbean, Northern Africa and Western Asia, Europe and Northern America, and sub-Saharan Africa. Permanent or long-acting reversible methods are the most-used method in Central and Southern Asia, Eastern and South-eastern Asia, and Oceania excluding Australia and New Zealand.

There is no region in which traditional methods are the most commonly used.10. Injectables play a prominent role in recent increases in the use of modern contraceptive methods. Among 10 countries that made the greatest progress in meeting the needs for family planning with modern methods since 1990 (SDG indicator 3.7.1.), the increase was driven by use of injectables in 5 countries, by implants and male condoms in 2 countries each, and by the pill in one country.

African countries urged to re-position family planning 24 October 2003 Dakar, 24 October- African countries should re-position family planning as a priority health intervention because of its potential for helping to drastically reduce maternal infant and child deaths. “Revitalized and appropriately repositioned family planning programs will greatly improve reproductive health indicators in sub-Saharan Africa which is home to 10% of the world’s women, but responsible for 40% of pregnancy-related deaths worldwide,” Dr Therese Lesikel, the Regional Adviser for Reproductive Health Training in the WHO African Region, said in a presentation to the 2nd meeting of the Regional Reproductive Health Task Force taking place from 20-24 October in Dakar, Senegal. She stated that although all countries in the African Region had family planning programs, available data showed that felt and unmet needs for family planning in the Region remained high. “For all sexually active women, the average prevalent rate for contraceptive use is only around 10%, and there is a high unmet need among all women of reproductive age, especially among adolescents who are at risk for both pregnancy and HIV infection,” Dr Lesikel said.

WHO estimates that globally, 120 million women had unmet need for family planning, while 350 million lacked access to a full range of contraceptive methods. Family planning is regarded as a key intervention for quality reproductive health services and one of the most effective investments for helping to ensure the wellbeing of women, children and communities.

Fertility rates are also among the highest in the world. Every woman has, on average, between five and six children and teenage pregnancy rates are more than twice the global rate with more than one in ten girls aged 15 to 19 giving birth. Access to and use of modern contraceptive methods is limited, with only 18 per cent of the sexually active using birth control and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV remain a huge problem. Nearly three and a half million Nigerians are living with HIV and neighbors Cameroon and Chad also have hundreds of thousands of people infected. With a 24 per cent unmet need for family planning, more than 100,000 women in West and Central Africa die each year from preventable pregnancy-related causes more than in any other region of the world.

UNFPA is supporting women and young people to have better access to family planning and reproductive health services. We are also working with traditional and faith leaders and other stakeholders to overcome cultural and religious resistance and promote the availability and use of modern contraceptives and give young people and adolescents counseling.

The Cameroon National Planning Association for Family Welfare (CAMNAFAW) was created in 1987 to respond to the needs of women who wanted to plan their families and to enjoy higher standards of living. The organization has rapidly grown into the country’s leading provider of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) service. The challenges facing the people of Cameroonian the organization are severe. This is a country with very high levels of maternal death and child mortality and an HIV prevalence rate of over 10%. Health provision is limited: CAMNAFAW is working tirelessly to deliver to populations in the greatest and most urgent need of SRH support.

Through its service points, including dedicated youth sites, run by full-time staff and supported by over a thousand volunteers, CAMNAFAW provides a complete suite of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services. It offers family planning, vaccination, paediatric care services, antenatal and post-natal care, post-abortion care, the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted and opportunistic infections, screening of cancers of the reproductive system, general laboratory work, voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), home-based care, and education programmes aimed at reducing stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS.An estimated 80% of clients are poor, marginalized, socially excluded and/or under-served. These include people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV), sex workers, and unmarried men and women.

CAMNAFAW works in partnership with government and with non-governmental organisations including Care Cameroon, Femmes-Santé-Developpement en Afrique Sub-Saharienne (FESADE), the Youth Development Foundation, OFSAD, Scouts du Cameroun, the Support Centre for New Local Development Alternatives (CANADEL), Service Catholique de la Santé, Service Protestant de la Santé, the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA Cameroon), and the Réseau. Camerounais des associations des Personnes vivants avec le VIH (Récap+). CAMNAFAW receives support from the Government of Cameroon, UNFPA, the Government of Japan, the IPPF Japan Trust Fund.

1.2 Problem Statement

Family planning involve decision made by women and men concerning their reproductive life and most importantly whether, when and under what circumstances they have children. Couples have to make decisions about whether to engage in sexual activity that could lead to pregnancy.

The promotion of effective FP use among woman of child bearing age in the Likomba community is the main trust of this project work. It has been discovered that many reproductive age women seem to have a very little or innocent information about family planning method and even when they know some names of the contraceptives, they don’t know where to get them or how to use it. Some of these women seem to have negative attitude about family planning, while some may have heard false and misleading information about FP Gaur et al.,2008), this seem to be the case of case of women of child bearing age in the Likomba community. Previous research has also reported that, allowing the existing gap between contraceptive need and contraceptive utilization to be unfilled might result in dramatic rise in prevalence unsafe abortions, high level of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity rate.

Apart from identifying the risk groups that are often unaware of contraceptives and societal views on risk associated with abortion. Following the researcher observation from different clinical and community internship, the researcher came to realized that many women seem to be ignorance about the use of FP which therefore motivates the researcher to evaluate the knowledge and practice of family planning among women of childbearing age in the Likomba community.re Cameroun, and CAREF.

1.3 Main Research Question

What is the level of knowledge of family planning among women of child bearing age in the Likomba community?

1.3.2 Specific Research Question

1. What are the advantages of family planning among women of childbearing age in the Likomba community?
2. What are the complications or disadvantages of family planning among women of childbearing age in the Likomba community?
3. What are the benefits of family planning among women of childbearing age in the Likomba community?

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