KNOWLEDGE AND UPTAKE OF FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES

ABSTRACT

Postpartum family planning addresses the needs of those who wish to have children in the future or to space their pregnancy, as well as those who have reached their desired family size and wish to avoid future pregnancies or limit their number of children. Aim is to assess the utilization of family planning services among postpartum women in a Community Health Centre in Benin City. The study was carried out in Ugbekun Primary Health Facility among postnatal women attending the health facility, and a total of 230 post natal women were included in the study. A self-constructed questionnaire was distributed among postnatal women, collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, and percentages. They were presented in tables, charts and graphs. The findings from the study shows that majority which corresponds to 95.3% of the postpartum women attending Ugbekun primary health facility were knowledgeable about postpartum family planning services regardless of their educational background and socioeconomic status but showed a poor uptake of family planning. Overpopulation is a global health challenge, which remains prevalent in both developed and developing countries. The findings of this study, suggests that in order to achieve the optimum goal of improving health, postnatal women’s knowledge and uptake of family planning should be considered as a factor to reducing overpopulation. It is paramount that for effective strategies to be made, patients should be actively involved in the management of their health.