Of the many interlinked problems facing humanity in the last quarter of the turbulent twentieth century, that of the rapid rate of population growth is a major one. The effect of rapid population growth on the quality of lives in various countries is largely responsible for the growing emphasis on the need to reduce fertility rates. In most cases, family planning methods have been adopted for this purpose. Family planning is now being increasingly accepted as a factor that contributes significantly to the socio-economic development of any nation.

According to Derek [1], family planning refers to the natural and artificial birth control methods that allow couples to control the size of their family and the gap between their children. Family planning adoption has proven to be of great positive influence on both the health of the children and the mother. Because of the reduction in infants and children death, due to better sanitation and disease control, increasing number of children survives to reach their reproductive age, and being human, they reproduce, thus increasing population to an unbearable rate. It is now evident that family trends are now shifting to a nuclear family with the number of children limited to one or two. This can be attributed to the recent realization by couples that they need no longer subject themselves to a life of constant child bearing and child rearing, but that it is now actually possible that by adopting a family planning measure, they can decide on how many children they want to have and also decide the spacing between the children. Family planning is relatively a new science. Although the act of planning the family has existed in crude form since the beginning of mankind. In recent years, health workers have come to note that apart from a good water source, a healthy environment and a balanced diet, family planning is an integral part of a good health programme.

Lately for the first time in history, couples have had reliable methods which includes; the use of pills, condom and birth control implants sterilization, IUD etc which enables them to make their choices freely and relatively easily. But however, these choices depend to a great extent on a complicated mixture of social, cultural and psychological influence. This research work is therefore aimed at examining the Adoption of Family Planning Measures Among Couples in New Heaven, Enugu State.

Study area

The study area is new-heaven. It is located in Enugu North local government area of Enugu state. The local government area has the following coordinates 6º28’N and 7º31’E with a population of 244,852 people and an area of 106 km2. Geographically, Enugu urban area is located between latitude 6º21N and 6º30N and longitude 7º26’E and 7º37N. The urban area is bounded in the east by Udi local government area, north by Enugu east local government area and in the south of Nkanu west local government area. The metropolis constitutes local government areas of Enugu north, east and south local government area.

Enugu falls within the hills of the Udi escarpment which covers the Government Residential Area, New Heaven, Independent Layout, Uwan/Achara layout, Maryland to the south and Ogbete/Iva Valley to west [2].

Population

Enugu state had a rapid population growth, and this growth has been in the increase since its recovery in 1909 Umoh [3]. The current population figure of Enugu state is about 5,590,513.

Relief

Enugu urban is characterized by a mixture of hills and valleys. The topography of the slope 227 meters at the eastern foot of the Udi hills [4]. The topography range from flat to undulating lands with ridges, deep and steep sided valleys in the more northern edges [5]. The soils in Enugu is mainly deep porous soil of the feratic group which is washed at places, leaving patches of degraded lateral stream cruses here and there [4]. He maintained that the soil is derived from the sandy deposits from the soft red sandstones of the cretaceous sequence. Due to the limited efforts of the relief on the morphology of the soil profile is remarkably uniform throughout the area [5].

Population of the study

The population of the study is made up of married couples within child bearing age residing in New Heaven, Enugu.

Sampling technique

The sample technique applied in this research is the simple random sampling technique. The method was used to select the streets where the questionnaires will be distributed.

New-Heaven is made up of about 40 streets, out of which 10 streets were randomly selected. 15 questionnaires were distributed to each of the ten streets to give a total number of 150 respondents which will be used as the sample size.

Simple size

The study area is a large area, and due to the huge task involved in sampling the whole population, the researcher decided to select a sample from the population to represent the entire population and its characteristics.

The sample size is made up of 150 people from the 10 streets randomly selected from new heaven.

Data presentation and analysis

Table 1 represents the sex distribution of respondents.

Table 1: Showing sex of respondents

From the table, 49 respondents representing (32.7%) of the total respondents are male, with an average number of 4.3 children per respondent, while 101 (67.3%) are females with an average number of 4.0 children per respondent.

Table 2 shows the age distribution of respondents and the average number of children per respondents in different age groups.

Table 2: Showing the average number of children per respondent in different age group.

From the Table, 5 respondents representing (3.3%) of the respondents are within the age bracket of 15-20 years, while 28 (18.3%) are in the age bracket of 21-26 years, 43 (28.7%) in the age bracket of 27-32 years, 32 (21.3%) bracket of 33-38 years, 22 (14.7%) are in the age bracket of 39-44, and 20 (13.2%) in the age bracket 45 years and above. Also, from the table average number of children per respondents in the following age bracket: 15-20, 21-26, 27-32, 33-38, 39-44, and 45+ are 1.2, 1.4, 3.7, 3.2, 5.2, and 6 respectively.

The reason why older respondents tends to have more number of children is because they have a longer duration in marriage.

Table 3 represents the marital status of respondents and the average number of children in each age group.

Table 3: Showing the marital status of respondents and the average number of children.

From the table, none of the respondents is single, 133 (88.7%) is married, 2 (1.3%) is divorced and 15 (10%) is widowed. Also from the table the average number of children per respondent in the following marital status; single, married, divorced, and widowed are 0, 3.6, 1.5, and 3.7 respectively.

Table 4 representing the age at marriage of respondents, and the average number of children in each age bracket.

Table 4: Showing age at marriage of respondents and the average number of children.

From the table, 15 respondents representing (10%) of the respondent got married within the age bracket of 15-20 years, with an average number of 4.9 children per respondents, 55 respondents (36.7%) between 21-26 years with an average number of 3.8 children per respondents, 50 (33.3%) between the age bracket of 27-32 years with an average number of 3.5 children per respondents, 20 (13.3%) between the age bracket of 33-38 years with an average number of 3.4 children per respondents, 8 (5.3%) between the age of 39-44 years with an average number of 2.5 children per respondents and 2 (1.3%) between the age bracket of 45 years and above with an average number of 2 children per respondents.

Table 5 represents the marital duration of respondents and the average number of children in each group.

Table 5: Showing the marital duration of respondents.

From the table, respondents with the following marital duration; 6 months-5 years, 6-10 years, 11-16 years, 17-22 years, 23-29 years, and above have the following average number of children; 2.1, 2.5, 3.9, 4.5, and 6.6 respectively.

It can be deduced from the above table that respondents with a longer duration in marriage have the tendency of having more children.

Table 6 represents the occupation of respondents.

Table 6: Showing the occupation of respondents.

From the table, respondents that falls into the following occupational group; farming, trading, civil servants, and students have the following average number of children; 6.3, 5.5, 3.0, and 2.3 respectively.

Table 7 represents the educational qualification of respondents.

Table 7: Showing the educational qualification of respondents.

From the table, it is evident that respondents with the highest level of education have fewer children compared to those without any formal education. This proves that, education is a major factor affecting the increase in population growth in Nigeria.

Table 8 representing the opinion of respondents on population growth.

Table 8: Showing respondents perception of population growth.

59.3% of respondents thinks that population is increasing rapidly, 26.7% said it is increasing gradually, 2.7% were of the opinion that population is not increasing while the remaining 11.3% of respondents said they don’t know whether population is increasing or not.

Table 9 represents the awareness of family planning methods among respondents.

Table 9: Showing the awareness of family planning methods among respondents.

All the respondents said they have heard of one method of family planning or the other before.

Table 10 represents the source of knowledge of respondents about family planning.

Table 10: Showing respondents sources of information.

18% of respondents got their information from mass media 4% from family planning clinics, 53.3% from friends, 5.3% from the church and 19.3% from schools.

Table 11 shows the awareness and usage of various family planning methods among respondents.

Table 11: Showing the awareness and usage of various family planning methods among respondents.

From the above table, the following family planning methods pills, UID, injectibles, sterilization, condom and foam tablet have the following percentages of awareness; 93.3%, 72.7%, 65.3%, 20%, 98.7% and 18% respectively. Also, pills have 40% usage among respondents, IUD 20%, injectibles 18%, sterilization no usage, condom, 70% and foam tablet 4%.

Table 12 represents the current status of respondents on contraceptive usage.

Table 12: Showing the current status of respondents.

From the table, 63.3 of respondents are currently practicing one family planning method or the other, while 36.7% of the remaining respondents are not currently using any methods.

Table 13 represents the various opinions of respondents on whether the reduction in family size will be beneficial to the country.

Table 13: Showing the opinions of respondents on whether it will be beneficial to the country if family size are reduced.

From the table, 91 (60.6%) of respondents said yes, that they think the reduction in family size will be beneficial to the country, while 48 (32.1%) said not that they don’t think so. The remaining 11 (7.3%) respondents said they have no idea whether or not the reduction of family sizes will be beneficial to the country.

Table 14 represents the effect of distances to family planning clinic on the adoption of family planning methods.

Table 14: Showing the effect of distance to family planning clinics on the adoption of family planning methods.

From the table, 110 (72.7%) of respondents said yes that distance to clinics affects their practice of family planning methods, while 40 (27.3%) said that distance does not affect their practice of family planning methods.

Distance to clinics is one of the factors affecting the level of adoption of family planning programmes among coupes in New Heaven Enugu.

Chukwudi [6] in a study on the Geographic Perspective of Utilization of family planning methods also came up with the same findings. Her earlier work supports this finding. The reason could be attributed to the fact that geographers believe that distance to some extents affects interaction. It is a proven fact that distance affects the patronage received by facilities located at a place. Ugbor work on the practice of Family Planning Among Women Attending Ante-natal Clinics in UNTH Ituku-Ozalla Enugu State is also in accordance with this finding, she was also of the opinion that distance and the availability of family planning clinics where part of the major factors affecting the practice of family planning.

Most of the respondents got their information about family planning from friends. This is contradictory to the study carried out by Mbanusi, where she reported that women have gotten knowledge of family planning from hospitals and clinics. On the issue of awareness about family planning, this study contradicts the earlier study made by Adewuji et al. [7] where he stated that the lack of knowledge about family planning is the likely cause of large families. But however, it is in accordance with the study carried out by Odumegwu [8] where he said that the knowledge of people about family planning has increased considerably, and that it is no longer a barrier to the effective practice of the programme.

It is evident from the research that modern family planning methods are also practice among couples in New Heaven, Enugu. But there are some factors influencing patronage of these methods. These factors include; distances, awareness, fear of side effects from contraception’s, implementers attitudes, and the ignorance on the side of some men etc. Thus my recommendations arises from this limiting factors, because if they are effectively checked, it can create more interest in family planning programmes, and motivate individuals to embrace the practice as a means of improving the their general standard of living which will in turn promote their social and physical well being.

Family planning programmes need to be expanded, and more field workers needs to be introduced, this will help enlighten the public on the many benefits associated with the practice of family planning there by increasing the number of adopters in the study area.

Men should also be enlightened on the benefits that accrue to them if they allow their spouse to adopt a family planning method. Also, attempts should be made to further educate couples on the side effects of contraception’s so as to increase their confidence.

Finally, prior to the methods used by adopters, medical screening should be carried out so that there can be method switching rather than discontinuation (Table 15).

Response	Frequency	E	0-E	(O-E)2
Yes	110	75	-35	1225	16.3
No	40	75	+35	1225	16.3
Total	150	150			32.6

Table 15: Showing the procedure for the computation of chi-square statistics.

The result of the findings and test in this study show that there are various factors that influence the use of birth control measures. Some of which are; marital status, age at marriage, marital duration, occupation etc.

Condom was the most common method of birth control known and used among couples in New Heaven, Enugu. And that the fear of side effects was also a major factor that discourage the practice of family planning in the study area.

Finally, the practice of family planning is highly influenced by distance to clinics. It was confirmed that distance affects the number of couples adopting family planning, the number of adopters is said to decrease with an increase in distance.