Barriers to Contraceptive Uptake among Women of Reproductive Age in a Semi-Urban Community of Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Globally, unplanned pregnancy and sexuallytransmitted infections (STIs) persist as a significant threat towomen’s reproductive health. In Nigeria, despite huge resourcescommitted to family planning programs by stakeholders,contraceptive use has been very low. This study aimed atunraveling the barriers to the use of modern contraceptives amongwomen of reproductive age (15-49 years) in Ise-Ekiti community,Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria.METHODS: This study was a cross sectional study among womenaged 15-49 years. A multi-stage sampling technique was used inthe recruitment of respondents from the community. Aninterviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data.Data were analyzed using SPSS version 15.RESULTS: Although contraceptive awareness among respondentswas high 496(98.6%), only 254 of the 503 respondents were usingmodern contraceptive methods giving a Contraceptive PrevalenceRate (CPR) of 50.5%. Among those not using any form ofcontraceptives, some identifiable barriers to contraceptive useincludes desire for more children, 62(39.5%), partner disapproval,40(25.5%), and fear of side-effects, 23(14.6%). Factors associatedwith contraceptive uptake include marital status (p=0.028),educational level (p=0.041) and religion (p=0.043) with traditionalworshippers having the least uptake.CONCLUSION: This study showed that awareness to modernforms of contraceptives does translate into use. The identifiedbarriers to contraceptive uptake suggest the need to improve uptakeof contraceptives through a community-based and culturallyacceptable intervention as doing this will go a long way inaddressing some of these barriers.