Family planning among married men: a pilot study in Abakpa Nike Enugu State Nigeria

Chineme O. I. Ozumba, University of the Witwatersrand

The purpose of the paper is to investigate and identify areas of need for the involvement of married men in family planning within the concept of ‘knowledge, attitude and practice’. A phenomenological approach was used involving literature review and a focused pilot survey on a sample selected from a community within South Eastern Nigeria. Primary qualitative data collected and analysed quantitatively. Analysis of primary data suggests that married men in the area are generally not involved in family planning. There are also indications of need to target married men specifically in policy framework and in the design of the programmes. The value of the paper lies in the presentation of primary data on an area with considerable gap in knowledge, thereby constituting a leap board for in-depth studies. However, data presented is part of a year 2000 pilot study. As such further studies of a wider scope would be appropriate