Sustaining the improved family planning services in Bosomtwe District; the enabling factors.

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Date
JUNE, 2016.
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Abstract
In many Africa countries and for that matter Ghana, the use of family planning services remain a challenge to many women. Most districts in Ghana still have acceptor rate for family planning far below the national target of 28%. However, some districts have had an acceptor rate above the national target, for which the Bosomtwe District is one, with acceptor rate of 49.3%. But the Bosomtwe District family planning acceptor rate has not translated into reduction in fertility rate, control of population growth; reduce maternal mortality and quality health care for mothers and children as it has been Ghana’s expectation for accepting family planning services. The main issues then are; how can the high family planning acceptor rate of 49.3% be sustained in the district? How can this acceptor rate in the Bosomtwe translate into reduction in fertility rate, reduction in population growth, reduce maternal mortality, and promote quality health care for mothers and family in the district? In this regard the study sought to determine the knowledge of couple and individuals on family planning methods in the Bosomtwe District, assess the extent to which the socio-economic characteristics of couple and individuals influence their decisions on the use of family planning methods, identify ways of sustaining the current acceptor rate of family planning in the district, and suggest ways to ensure that increase utilization of family planning services lead to small family size. The researcher hypothesizes that: Women’s education, women employment Status, marital status, religious background, ethnicity and place of residence influence the use of family planning services and methods in the Bosomtwe District. Sample size of 394 respondents was selected using simple random sampling technique. The Chi-square was used to test the hypothesis. The study revealed that 92.4% of women in the Bosomtwe District had knowledge on family planning services. It was also established that some family planning methods used by women included female condoms, Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP), Depo-Provera, sponge, vaginal contraceptive films, contraceptive foam, transdermal-contraceptives and many others. The study further discovered that 66.7% of women use family planning for birth control and child spacing. The study found that the current Acceptor Rate of family planning service in the district could be sustained if there is education on the importance of family planning and free and affordable family planning services for women and education on the need for birth control, child spacing, the importance of family planning for mother’s health, free and affordable family planning services.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Public Health in Population and Reproductive Health.
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