The impact of family planning service in rural Yangoru
Roscoe, P.
Papua and new Guinea Medical Journal 27(1): 16-19
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0031-1480 PMID: 6595899 Document Number: 239456
A study was undertaken in the Yangoru Subdistrict of the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea in 1981 to assess the defree to which the rural inhabitants of the area used the family planning services provided since 1976 by the government's Yangoru Family Planning Clinic. Data were obtained from the clinic's patient records and by conducting field interviews in the village of Sima, located 4.2 kilometers from the clinic. The catchment area of the clinic contained 80 villages. Patient records revealed that between 1976 and July 1981, the clinic provided services for 147 acceptors, that 17 of the 147 acceptors were residents of the government and mission stations located in Yangoru, and that only 1.0% to 2.0% of the eligible women in the villages used the services of the clinic. The average number of acceptors/village was 1.6; however, for the 22 villages located within 2 kilimeters of the clinic, there were 2.5 acceptors/village, and for the 1m villages located along the highway, there were 3.6 acceptors/village. Prior to 1980 the mean parity of village acceptors was 6.6 and in 1980-81 the mean parity of acceptors was 4.8. Data collected by interviewing Sima inhabitants indicated that for the 20 completed families in the village, mean parity was 6.0, and the average number of living children was 4 or 5. Mean ideal family size was 5. These findings support the contention that the low family planning utilization rates reflect the fact that most couples do not have all the children they want. However, since acceptor rates are lower in more distant villages, the rate in these villages might be increased if family planning services were more highly publicized in those villages. Most of the inhabitants of the villages located near Yangoru heardd about the clinic through word of mouth. It is possible that the residents of more distant villates are unaware of the services. Health service nurses visit all the villages once a month but they do no encourage the women to attend the family planning clinic nor would it be advisable for them to do so. The nurses are generally younger than most of the mothers in the area, and the mothers are unlikely to take their advice. Furthermore, most of the men in the villages are opposed to family planning. If the nurses associated themselves with family planning, the villagers might reject the medical services they provide. The services of the family planning clinic should, instead, be advertised on local radio broadcasts.