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Knowledge and practices of family planning in Zimbabwe
U Schwartz1, M Tshimanga, L K Shodu
1Department of Community Medicine, University of Zimbabwe, Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Objective:
To assess the level of knowledge and use of family planning in Zimbabwe.
Design:
Cross sectional study.
Setting:
All eight provinces and two major cities in Zimbabwe.
Subjects:
Women of child bearing age (15 to 49 years, 6,083 respondents).
Main Outcome Measures:
Number of live births, knowledge of contraceptive methods, previous, current and intention for future use of contraceptives, method related problems.
Results:
The contraceptive prevalence rate was 59.6% (CI 95% 58.4 to 60.9). The median number of live births was two (Q1 = 1, Q3 = 4) among all women, and seven (Q1 = 6, Q3 = 8) among women aged 40 to 49 years. Of 6,083 women interviewed, 5,849 (96.2%) knew at least one method of modern family planning, and 4,743 (78.0%) had ever used contraceptive in their life. Health concerns were the main reason for both discontinuation (28.5%) and postponement (22.8%) of contraceptive use.
Conclusions:
As compared to the 1991 Mother and Child Health Survey, knowledge and coverage of family planning services have improved further, and the introduction of injectable contraceptives has proved a success. Areas which need attention include the groups with high parity that remain under served, the low knowledge and use of condoms as a contraceptive, and the high level of health concerns among current and potential users.
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