Al-Hikmah University Journal

Background: An estimated 17% of married women in the developing world have an unmet need for contraception. Understanding the magnitude of unmet contraceptive need and the underlying reasons of this phenomenon will help to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies as well as reducing the menace of increase maternal mortality rate worldwide, most especially in the developing world,
Objective: To assess the extent of unmet need for family planning among women in the reproductive age group (i.e., 15-49 years) within Ogbomoso Metropolis and to explore the common reasons for unmet need for family planning.
Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Ogbomoso Metropolis. The study subjects consisted of all married women in the age group of 15-49 years. Women who were divorced, widows, those who refused to participate were excluded from the study.
Result: It was observed that out of 400 respondents, 373(93.2%) had knowledge of contraceptive method and it was obtained mainly from health workers (93.8%). Less than half 169 (42.2%) were currently using contraceptives out of which most of them are using injectables (41.5%) followed by IUCD (28.0%). Unmet need for family planning was present in 41.7% among all women under study; 25.7% women revealed unmet need for spacing and 16.0% women unmet need for limiting. A statistically significant association was found between religion, literacy and discussion with spouse about contraception (P<0.05). Husband's approval of contraception had a statistically significant protective association with unmet need (p=0.003), and discussion about family planning within the couple had a highly statistically significant protective association with unmet need (p=0.001). The major reason for non-use of contraception among women with unmet need was the fear of side effects.
Conclusion: The prevalence of unmet need of family planning among women in Ogbomoso is high. Husband's approval of contraception and couples' discussion about family planning are two major factors to be considered when planning interventions to reduce unmet need for family planning.