Developing a clinic strategy appropriate to community family planning needs and practices: an experience in Lagos,...

In Southern Nigeria, desired birth intervals, typically two to three years in length, have been achieved largely through the traditional practices of breastfeeding and sexual abstinence. In order to make the most effective use of both traditional practices and modern contraception, the Lagos Family Health Clinic, after analyzing responses on family planning in their 1975 health survey, developed strategies to facilitate introduction of modern family planning methods during the weaning period. These programs include regular home visits to mothers of preschool children; family planning clinic counseling at the time of weaning; and the organizing of a fathers's club to provide education about the clinic's program.