Rural-Urban Disparities in the Acceptance and Adoption of Family Planning among Couples in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Modern contraceptive use can enhance the living standard and reduce mortality among people living in rural and urban areas. However, contraceptive use tends to be low in the rural than the urban populace. A descriptive, cross-sectional study of systematic sampling technique was used to select 570 persons of reproductive age in the rural and urban communities of Oyo State. A semi-structured questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and factors influencing uptake of modern contraceptives was administered to respondents. of the 570 respondents, the mean age was 34.3 ±8.4 years. The majority (63.3%) were female compared to 36.7% male respondents. Most (97.0%) of respondents had heard of family planning in the past. The result shows significant differences in location, gender, marital status, occupation, ethnicity, and a number of children (P<0.001). The majority (33.3%) of the respondents sourced family planning information from health care providers, while 31.3% sourced theirs from mass media – Radio, TV, or newspapers. Respondents in urban areas were currently using family planning methods than respondents in rural areas (61.8% vs. 38.2%). People in the urban area are 2.344 times the odds of utilizing any family planning compared to people in rural area (95% CI 1.495, 3.676). Urban and rural disposition to modern contraception services is influenced by economic, socio-cultural, environmental factors, location, age, educational, traditional beliefs, religion, family type, and level of knowledge. Although some signs of progress have been made in family planning at the communities, more work needs to be done. Men need to be actively involved, and other fears about family planning addressed. Keywords: Acceptance, Disparity, Family Planning, Rural, Urban.