Access to Family Planning Services among Women Attending Health Facilities in the Ga South Municipality, Greater Accra Region

Abstract

Background: The importance of family planning as a tool and the means to achieving development has been espoused by several studies. However, in Sub-Saharan African, reports show low use of family planning methods, a high unmet need for family planning and subsequently, high fertility rate. Usage of family planning services in developing countries has been found to avert unintended pregnancies and reduce maternal and child mortality. Objective: The study aimed to evaluate access to family planning in the Ga South Municipal Assembly area in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Methods: Descriptive cross sectional design using quantitative methods was employed to collect data for the study. The study recruited women within the reproductive age (WIFA) of 15-49 years attending selected health facilities at the time of the study. A systematic sampling method was used to select 270 with a 10% (27) to cater for non-response, which was run up to give a total sample size of 300. A structured questionnaire with close-ended questions was designed to collect responses covering: the range (types) of family planning services provided, predisposing (client) factors, enabling (health provider) factors, and the need (community) factors influencing access to Family planning services at these health facilities. All answered questionnaires were checked, entered and analysed with STATA version 15. Results were presented in frequencies and percentages. Bivariate analysis was used to determine the association between the dependent and independent variables. Multivariable analysis was used to determine the strength of associations between the factors influencing family planning and the level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Of the 300 respondents, 31.7% had used a family planning method before. About 95 (31.6%) of the respondents had accessed family planning method in the facilities. About 70 (69.3%) of the respondents who had used family planning method were currently on a family planning method, 30.3% of them had used a family planning method in less than a year, and about 21.2% of them last used a family planning method in 5 to 10 years, and more than 10 years each. The most used family planning method was condom (30.5%) among the respondents who had had access to family planning method while the least used family planning method among this group was morning pills. This implies that condoms were the frequently used family planning methods. Conclusion: The findings of the study revealed that, women in the municipality had access to family planning methods such as: injectable, condoms, and pills among other. In addition, the women who were on family planning had children; perceived provider-level factors as acceptable and encountered little or no restrictions from their partners, culture, religion and community. The study concluded that access to family planning services could be influenced by client, provider and community level factors grouped under predisposing, enabling and need factors. These findings to some extent were consistent with existing literature.