Abstract:

Background: Family planning as defined by the WHO is a way of thinking and living that is adopted voluntarily, upon the basis of knowledge, attitudes and responsible decisions by individuals and couples, in order to promote the health and welfare of family and groups and thus contribute effectively to the social development of the country. The objective to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of family planning among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at Sengerema district Hospital in Mwanza.

Methodology: This cross section study recruited 362 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Sengerema designated district hospital in Mwanza to assess their knowledge, attitude, practices of family planning. A convenient sampling technique was used to collect data from the study population using a standard questionnaire in Kiswahili translated from English to collect information. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS statistic software version 20.

Results: The result revealed that about 59.6% (215) had adequate knowledge towards family planning, 29.6% (107) had poor knowledge about it and 10.8% (39) showed to have moderate knowledge. Also about 69.9% (241) had positive attitude and 30.1% (104) had negative attitude about family planning. Survey reported about 218(60.2%) reported to use family planning methods and 144(39.8%) never used family planning methods. Majority preferred calendar method and most pregnant women didn’t use family planning methods due to lack of interest.

Conclusion: The prevalence of family planning is still low compared to the developed countries despite the greater proportional of those who ever heard about family planning. Level of education is the key to the understanding of contraception.

Recommendations: More emphasize on educating women and their partner when attending ANC as have shown to contribute in increase prevalence of knowledge and practices of family planning