Background: Determining the contraceptive choices among the women is the first step in scaling up family planning methods.
Objective: To determine the contraceptive choices and practices as well as the underlining factors among market women in Nnewi, southeastern Nigeria.
Subjects/method: This is a cross sectional descriptive study of market women, that assessed their contraceptive choices and practices.
Result: Knowledge about family planning was 96.5%. One hundred and seventy five (44.0%) of the interviewed women were currently using a family planning method while 59.0% had ever used a method. The common methods in use were the natural method (24.1%), withdrawal method (7.5%) and the IUCDs (6.1%). The commonest ever used method was the natural method (26.7%) followed by withdrawal method (10.6%) and condom (7.8%). Fear of family planning commodities interfering with future fertility was the commonest reason for non use of family planning services (14.6), followed by the fear of the side effects (10.6%). Seventy one (17.8%) of the non-users had no reason. The use of family planning services was significantly high among the women aged 35 and above (x2 = 9.98; P = 0.04) and the (x2 = 23.8; P = 0.00). Focus group discussions indicated that husband's refusal, fear of side effects, cancer and delayed fertility were the main barriers to the use of family planning methods.
Conclusion: The contraceptive prevalence rate among Nnewi market women is high and cuts across all religions and social classes. However, the methods in common use are associated with high failure rates. The use of the more reliable methods should be encouraged.