Rubina Sarmad, Shaheena Manzoor, Rameeza Kaleem.
Family planning; reasons of unmet need in an urban setting of Lahore.
Professional Med J Jan ;14(1):152-7.

Objectives: To identify the reasons contributing to unmet need for family planning. Design: A cross sectional descriptive study. Place of Study: The study was conducted in pen-urban setting of Sandhan Kallan Lahore. Period: Three months. Subjects and Methods: Estimated population of childbearing age women (15-49) was 792 with frequency of unmet need 33%. Taking worst acceptable ±5% at 95% confidence interval, sample size calculated through Epi-info was 184 but 191 women were included in the study. Results: The study showed that out of 191 respondents, 75 were currently using contraceptives (users) while 116 were currently not using contraceptives (non user). These non users constituted unmet need for family planning and were identified as unmet need group in this study. The reasons for unmet need identified were, fear of side effects with contraceptives (57.8%) husband opposition (12.1%), mother in law opposition (9.5%), and religious concern (5.2%). (4.3%) respondents considered non- availability of services as the reasons of not using contraceptives. Only (0.9%) respondents considered cost as a barrier to the use of contraceptives. The unmet need for spacing was 36% and unmet need for limiting was 64%. The unmet need for limiting increased with the age of respondents and parity. Conclusion: The principal reasons for non use in this study are fear of side effects, family, religious opposition and services not available. The unmet need is for services that are responsive to the social and health context of fertility decision making. Although the decision to regulate fertility involves the key health considerations, it is also a social act requiring negotiating power.

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