THE SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE USE

OF FAMILY PLANNING AMONG RURAL WOMEN IN

GWAGWALADA AREA COUNCIL, FCT.
CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The primary care system in Nigeria came to provide package such as immunization, micro-
nutrient support, family planning counselling, pre-natal and post-natal care, health education
and basic curative care (the family manager 1997). Various government have tried to
implement policies aimed at reducing the population growth through family planning
programmers. A better access to good quality reproductive health service particularly family
planning is the key to improving healthy status especially for women.

Family planning (FP) has been defined in different ways in literature, but essentially it
implies enabling individuals and couples to attain the desired number, spacing and timing of
their children, through the use of modern or traditional (also called natural) contraceptive
methods. Family planning methods (contraceptives) help individuals or couples to avoid
unwanted pregnancies, regulate the intervals between pregnancies, control the time of birth in
relation to the age of the parents and determine the number of children in the family. Use of
FP methods can contribute to a substantial reduction in fertility and reduce the proportion of
unwanted pregnancies, as well as maternal deaths that would otherwise occur in the absence
of contraception.

In Africa 18 percent of women use modern contraceptive as a family planning method and
those women begin childbearing in their teens and have an average of six children or more
has led to a high birth rate in Nigeria, were family planning in receiving government support,
various agencies have been saddled with responsibilities of promoting and educating the
people concerning its use. The Planned Parenthood federation is one agency, also family
planning clinics have been set up in hospitals to encourage people to plan their families, and
avoid unwanted pregnancies that are for the women by bearing only the number of children
they can adequately cater for.

“Rosen and Conly (1998) state” we see the need through family planning to prevent the
health risk of frequent child bearing, but also to reduce the high toll of illness and death
associated with pregnancy and child birth and to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted
diseases (STD) including HIV/AIDS. We must explicitly state that despite various efforts
made by the Nigeria government to discourage high fertility or birth increase through the use
of contraceptive, awareness campaigns, and prolonged breastfeeding by mother’s etc. popular
growth rate is still rising.

The research would try to ascertain how the social-cultural factors (such as norms, values,
education, religion, social class, custom) are affecting the use of family planning in
Gwagwalada Area Council., family planning has different meaning to people, to some, it is a
method of giving birth to children by choice and not by chance, to health workers, it is the
space of children. It can also be having only as many children as one can provide for, so that
one can give the children proper care, enough food and opportunities for a happy life. The
methods of family planning use are viz; Traditional methods (through calendar, rhythm,
withdrawal and abstinence) folk methods (such as pills, condoms, vaginal methods, injection,
inter-uterine, contraceptive devices (IUD), female sterilization, spermicides, impacts
diaphragm etc. family planning and disease such as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome). Family planning services must be also including access to long acting clinical
method.

Janowite et al (1999) acknowledge the fact that currently, about ten million Sub-Sahara
Africa women currently make use of family planning method. Family planning is beneficial
to society. Rose and Conly (1998) aggress. Stating that the access to family planning would
benefit the individual and sloe down Africa’s galloping or rising population.

In Nigeria, the trend of marrying many wives and having many children is still high despite
the reduction in child mortality made possible by improvement in modern health care system,
at the end of the research, we should know the social-cultural factors actually affecting the
use of family planning in our study area, Gwagwalada Area Council.

It was against the background of the projected world population growth especially in the
developing countries and considering the consequences associated with current patterns of
population control measure. In Africa, not all governments considered rapid population
growth to constitute a problem to development. However, those countries that considered a
rapid rise in their population as a major obstacle to development attempted to reduce the
growth rate, countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Gambia adopted policies and
programmes towards fertility and birth control in the countries.

A nurse at the Gwagwalada General Hospital, reiterated this stating that the need to control
the increasing birth rate in Nigeria made family planning an acceptable programme. The
traditional method came into existence it was seen as a taboo for a man to “meet with a
woman he was not married to children were taught to abstain from sex. The girls were
encouraged to maintain their virginity in some societies, any girl discovered to have defied
her virginity before marriage was usually stoned to death. Others methods such as
withdrawal, rhythm was used in our traditional societies. The culture of marrying many wives
also served as a family planning method through child spacing a woman could not “meet”
with her husband until she accepted traditionally, they were not very effective however for
instance during withdrawal, some men could be released mistakenly before the withdrawal,
leading to a “mistaken” pregnancy. Towards the beginning of the 20th century, modern
contraceptive methods of family planning through the use contraceptive were invented,
especially for women, the use of pills, injections, implant, condoms spermicides, diciphragm,
intra-urine device (IUD) are such in Africa, there has been an increasing rate of injectable
contraceptive use. These methods are seen to be a more effective method of birth control than
the traditional method. In china, contraceptive is free and available to all. This has led to a
drop in the birth rate by approximately 50 percent (Adams and Win Stane 1976).

Donald light and Keller S (1975) argued that three out of the very four married couples using
contraceptive in 1975 favoured the most effective methods, the pills the IUD and the
sterilization. Sterilization is the most popular method for couples who have been married for
ten years or longer. The increasing use of sterilization as a form of contraceptive in an
indication that couples are more willing to accept the irreversibility of the decision to
terminate childbearing.

Despite the availability of thes1e contraceptive, population is still increasing people still feel
that having large families is better, especially in the rural areas. However, educating the
people on how to use family planning methods would make them more susceptible to its use
which would invariably check population increase.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 The work is designed to show the social-cultural factors affecting the use of family
planning in Gwagwalada Area Council.
 To examine the factors responsible for the ineffectiveness of family planning in
Gwagwalada.
 To sort out the problem facing the development of family planning in Gwagwalada.
 This research work is also designed to suggest workable solution to the problem of
family planning in Gwagwalada Area Council.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objectives of this study are as follows;

 To identify the different social-cultural factors that affects the use of family planning
in Gwagwalada Area Council.
 To highlight the different methods of family planning.
 To create awareness campaign on the use of family planning in Gwagwalada.
 To educate people on how the use of these methods of family planning.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

 Is family planning felt in Gwagwalada Area Council?

 How enlighten are the people of Gwagwalada about the use of family planning?

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research work is limited to Gwagwalada Area Council; it is to examine the social-
cultural factors affecting the use of family planning in Gwagwalada. The validity of this
study is limited to the accuracy of the information supplied by the respondents.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

HIV: Human Immune Deficiency Virus: This is a virus that causes AIDS.

AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: This is a disease caused by HIV which
paralyses all the immune system in the body.

PATRIARCHAL SYSTEM: Is a system of racing our ancestors through the male line.

BIRTH RATE: The number of births per thousand of women between the age of fifteen and
forty-nine.

FERTILITY: Refers to the number of live births to women.

CRUDE DEATH RATE: This is the total number of deaths in year divided by the average
total population it is usually calculated per one thousand.