Impacts Of Family Planning Initiatives In Kilombero District: A Case Study Of Kilombero District

ABSTRACT

The study aimed at assessing the impacts of family planning initiatives took place in Kilombero district and involved four villages namely Kibaoni, Idete, Chisano and Udagaji. Data was collected by using questionnaire surveys, focus group discussion and interviews. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 and qualitative data was analyzed using. Udagaji village has 30% of the respondents use family planning methods while Idete village has lowest percentage (22.5%) of the respondents use family planning methods. The study found the most common family planning methods used in the study area are injections and withdrawal methods. Udagaji villages most (43.8%) using injection method followed by Chisano, Idete and Kibaoni villages. Withdrawal method for Kibaoni village is 31.6%, Idete village 26.3%, Chisano village 23.0% and Udagaji village is 19.1%. Socio-demographic factors like education level and occupation in this study were found to have significant association on the use of contraceptive methods in the Kilombero district. The study findings showed 60% of respondents reported that they are satisfied with attitude of the health care staff while 39.5% said that were satisfied with receiving family planning services provided to them. About 35% reported non-availability of contraceptives, 25% complained of long waiting time. Furthermore the study concluded that the most challenges associated with the implementation of the use of family planning in the study area were the widespread myths and misconceptions on family planning, mistrust of quality of service, fear of side effects e.g. Over bleeding, and socio-cultural beliefs and practices which prevents them from taking decisions on their fertility and use of family planning services. The study recommends efforts should be made to provide information to couple and improving quality of family planning services in the study area.