Impact of men's perception on family planning demand and uptake in Nigeria

- For over a decade contraceptive prevalence in Nigeria has stagnated at 10%.
- Men's perception that family planning will promote female promiscuity contributes to the persistently low contraceptive uptake in Nigeria.
- There is a need for targeted approach that aim to reorient male partners and promote behavioural changes towards family planning.

ObjectiveEvidence from the last three Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in Nigeria shows slow progress in family planning (FP) uptake, despite programmatic interventions. While socioeconomic and religious barriers continue to exist, psychosocial factors such as negative contraceptive perceptions by male partners may influence both spousal FP demand and use. Therefore, this research investigates the influence of male partners' contraceptive perceptions on spousal FP demand and use.MethodsWe analysed the couple dataset from the 2013 Nigeria DHS.ResultsOne in five men held the perception that contraceptive use is women's business whereas two in five men reported that women who use family planning may become promiscuous, especially older men, those with no formal education, Muslims and residents in rural areas and northern region. Results from regression models, controlling for relevant sociodemographic characteristics, show that men's perception that contraception is women's business did not significantly influence FP demand. However, their fear that women who use family planning may become promiscuous was associated with lower odds of FP demand (AOR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.76-0.97) and increased the odds of traditional methods use (AOR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.01-1.79).ConclusionThe findings direct the need to adopt targeted approach focusing on couples, and reorient policy and program efforts for FP counselling and behavioural changes in men.