Socio-clinical characteristics of modern contraceptives users at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

Objectives: To determine the incidence and socio-clinical characteristics of modern contraceptive users. And the common methods clients received their first information on family planning.

Design: A retrospective observational review of clients between 1st of January 1996 and 31st of December 2001.

Setting: University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Methods And Methods: Records of new family planning clients were reviewed to determine among other things, age of the patients, educational background, religion, number of living children and the methods chosen by the clients. The data extracted were analyzed by absolute values and percentages. Where necessary mean values and student t-test were calculated.

Results: There was a family planning consultation prevalence of 10% of total gynaecological consultations. All the clients were females, 79.7% were for child spacing and 17% for birth control. About 90% of those women who decided not to have any more children opted for temporary methods of contraception. Contraceptive use in teenagers was only 3.6% with peak age prevalence at 25 to 29 years. Almost half of the clients had 4 or more living children. Only 11.6% of clients first heard of family planning through the Radio or Television.

Conclusion: For a family planning program to be effective in our community, strategic planning should target the males, teenagers and multiparous women. The electronic and print media should be involved more in the propagation of family planning programs. And women who have completed their family size should be encouraged to go for sterilization.