KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE TOWARDS CONTRACEPTIVE USE IN THREE SELECTED PRIMARY HEALTH CENTRES IN SURULERE LOCAL GOVERNMENT OYO STATE

that in developing countries as many as 1.8 million child deaths could be averted if all pregnancies were spaced by at least three years (Rutstein, 2008). In the past few decades investments in family planning programs have raised the level of contraceptive use from 19% to 62% in the developing world and contributed to an estimated 75% decline in fertility (Greanga, 2011). However, despite the increase in supply of and demand for family planning services, gross inequities exist both between and within countries in the use of contraceptives, posing challenges to health policy and programming. Use of modern contraceptives in developing countries remains comparatively low, with West Africa having the lowest rates. In many countries the demand for contraceptives is still not being fulfilled. Worldwide, in 2010 12% of women currently married or in union who do not want any more children or want to postpone their next pregnancies for at least two years are not using any form of contraception that is, they have an unmet need for family planning (Alkema, 2013). In developing countries an estimated 222 million women have an unmet need for modern contraception (Singh & Darroch, 2012). The proportion of married women with unmet need for modern contraception is 18% in the developing world as a whole, but is much higher than average (30–37%) in Western Africa, Middle Africa, Eastern Africa and Western Asia, and is somewhat higher than average (22–24%) in South Asia and the Caribbean (Singh & Darroch, 2012). Nigeria is yet to derive significant benefits