KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF FAMILY PLANNING AMONGST WOMEN WITH UNPLANNED PREGNANCY IN CALABAR - NIGERIA

Women with unplanned pregnancy who came to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar, Nigeria, for antenatal care were studied. The aim was to establish the knowledge, attitude and practice of family planning amongst these women. The incidence of unplanned pregnancy in our antenatal population is about 30%. The women considered their pregnancies unplanned because they were unmarried (31.4%), were still in school (25%) and were not economically prepared for the pregnancy (25.1%). Over 85% of the women with unplanned pregnancy were aware of, at least, one family planning method. Most of them knew the benefits of contraception, about 86% of them agreed that family planning is useful but only 8.7% of them ever used a family planning method. The reason for non-use of contraceptive methods were: refusal by husbands (54%), the belief that the methods "cause infertility and ill-health" (35%) and that it was against their religion (28%). Intensive male- targeted information, education, and public enlightenment campaigns may reverse this trend.

Keywords
Knowledge; Attitude; Practice; Family Planning; Women with Unplanned Pregnancy