Services Related Barriers for Male Involvement in Utilization of Family Planning in Chato District Tanzania

Abstract

Tanzania has one of the highest Total Fertility Rate in Africa of 4.8 and a 32% level of Family planning utilization. The Ministry of Health Community Development Gender and Elderly of Tanzania through Family planning Research Agenda has established that, low involvement of men in Family planning services is one of the barriers towards contraceptive uptake in many African societies due to male dominance in decision making including Family planning issues. The study was conducted to document current family planning (FP) utilization and identify possible underlying barriers affecting male involvement in utilization of Family planning in Chato District, Geita Tanzania. A cross-sectional study using both quantitative and qualitative techniques was conducted. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 496 participants in 4 wards of Chato District. Focused Group Discussions and Key Informant interviews were conducted from each of these areas. Descriptive statistics was done to determine frequencies of FP methods used. Using odds ratios, bivariable analysis was done to assess the effect of individual factors on FP use. Inferential logistic regression was then run to assess for the effect of potential confounding variables. The proportion of men or their partner using Family planning was found to be 17.5%, which suggest that, there is low male involvement in utilization of family planning in Chato District due to many barriers. Logistic regression results suggested that it was 2 times more likely for participants that reported residing near Family planning service delivery points to use FP [ (OR=1.949, 95%CI=1.069-3.555, p=0.030)] than those that reported residing distant from FP services delivery points and 2 times more likely for participants who had FP side effects not to use FP [1.888, 95%CI =1.067-3.341, p=0.029], than those who never had side effects after use of  FP methods. Overall 17.5% men currently utilized Family Planning. Access to FP service delivery points and side effects were more likely to be associated with FP use. The study underscored the need for Family Planning programs to adopt approaches that improve access to Family Planning methods and improved skilled provision of Family Planning methods to reduce side effects, in order to promote FP use in line with National objectives for scale up of Family planning utilization to 60%.