title: Awareness, use, and unmet need for family planning in rural northern Nigeria.
abstract: Access to quality reproductive health and family planning services remain poor in Nigeria. We present results on family planning awareness and use from a survey of 3,080 women (age 15-49 years) in Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe, and Zamfara States. About 43.0% had heard of any method of contraception whereas 36.6% had heard of any modern method. Overall, 7.0% of all currently married women reported ever using a method of contraception; 4.4% used a modern method and 2.9% used a traditional method. Only 1.3% of women in union (currently married or cohabiting) used modern contraception methods at the time of the survey; 1.3% of women in union used traditional methods. Unmet need for family planning was 10.3%. Low family planning use in the presence of low awareness and low felt need suggests, among other things, a need to increase awareness and uptake and make family planning commodities available.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Population and Family Health, New York, NY 10032, USA. hvd2105@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Henry V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Doctor
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Population and Family Health, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Sally E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Findley
authors.affiliation: PRRINN-MNCH Program, Nassarawa GRA, Kano, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Godwin Y
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Afenyadu
authors.affiliation: PRRINN-MNCH Program, Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Uzondu
authors.affiliation: PRRINN-MNCH Program, Damaturu, Yobe State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Garba M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Ashir
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003267:Contraception / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008429:Maternal Welfare; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data