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. Natural Family Planning (NFP) refers to a variety of methods used to prevent or plan pregnancy, based on identifying a woman’s fertile days. The objective to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices on Natural contraceptive methods among women of reproductive aged (18-40 years) in sengerema district in Mwanza.

Methodology: This cross section study recruited 362 among women of reproductive aged (18-40 years) in Sengerema district in Mwanza to assess their knowledge, attitude, practices of on Natural contraceptive methods. 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 Natural contraceptive methods, 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 Natural contraceptive methods. Survey reported about 218(60.2%) reported to use Natural contraceptive methods and 144(39.8%) never used Natural contraceptive methods. Majority preferred calendar method and most pregnant women didn’t use Natural contraceptive 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 Natural contraceptive methods. Level of education is the key to the understanding of contraception.

Recommendations: More emphases should be made to educate women and their partner as have shown to contribute in increase prevalence of knowledge and practices of natural contraceptive methods.