Family planning practice in a tertiary health institution in Southern Nigeria

As Nigeria strives to achieve the goals of the millennium declaration, particularly the reduction of maternal mortality, one of the key interventions is the promotion of use of effective family planning services. Nearly a decade into the millennium, contraceptive prevalence rates in parts of Nigeria are still reportedly low.

To determine the contraceptive acceptance rate, characteristics of acceptors, service utilization, preferred methods and their source of information on family planning in a tertiary health institution in Southern Nigeria.

The case notes of clients who attended the family planning clinic of University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) from January 2001 December 2005 were retrieved. Information on socio-demographic characteristics, reasons for contraception, and their preferred methods was extracted. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 11.0 computer software.

A total of 2,269 clients practised contraception during the study period, giving an acceptor rate of 453.8/annum. The average annual delivery rate within this period was 2361.2, giving an acceptance rate of one per five deliveries. Of these clients 1089(48%) of clients used injectable contraceptives; making it the most commonly used form of contraception. The postnatal clinic was the commonest source of information on family planning.

The uptake of family planning services in Port-Harcourt, South-South Nigeria is relatively low. Efforts should be made to improve contraceptive service utilization through female education and dissemination of information through the mass media.