Impact of men's perception on family planning demand and uptake in Nigeria

Objective Evidence from the last three Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in Nigeria shows slow progress in family planning (FP) uptake, despite programmatic interventions. While socioeconomic and religious barriers continue to exist, psychosocial factors such as negative contraceptive perceptions by male partners may influence both spousal FP demand and use. Therefore, this research investigates the influence of male partners’ contraceptive perceptions on spousal FP demand and use. Methods We analysed the couple dataset from the 2013 Nigeria DHS. Results One in five men held the perception that contraceptive use is women's business whereas two in five men reported that women who use family planning may become promiscuous, especially older men, those with no formal education, Muslims and residents in rural areas and northern region. Results from regression models, controlling for relevant sociodemographic characteristics, show that men's perception that contraception is women's business did not significantly influence FP demand. However, their fear that women who use family planning may become promiscuous was associated with lower odds of FP demand (AOR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.76–0.97) and increased the odds of traditional methods use (AOR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.01–1.79). Conclusion The findings direct the need to adopt targeted approach focusing on couples, and reorient policy and program efforts for FP counselling and behavioural changes in men.