The ethiopian
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DISTRIBUTION CORPORATION EMPLOYEES IN ADDIS ABABAMathewos Wakbulcho. MD. MPH ABSTRACT: Of the 900 employees in the Head Quarter of the Ethiopian Domestic Distribution Corporation (EDDC), in the city of Addis Ababa, 201 were randomly selected and involved in the survey for assessing attitude, knowledge and utilization of Family planning. Results showed that 94% of the respondents knew at least one method of family planning. Eighty six percent of them had a positive attitude towards the service. Currently, 39% of the study population are using different contraceptive methods. No statistical significant (P> .001) difference was found in knowledge, attitude, and practice of Family Planning between male and female respondents. Among non-users, 47% (55/117) intended to use contraceptives methods in the future. According to this information it was assumed that the number of Family Planning Service utilizers in an organized work area reached 71 % , considering current users as continuous acceptors. Sources of Family Planning information and factors related to discontinuation and non-users were discussed. In conclusion an in depth study regarding the lanching of a national work area based FP programmes is highly recommended. [Ethiop. I. Health Dev. 1993;7(2):85-911 INTRODUCTIONThe concept of family planning as a means of influencing the family size is a very old one. Family Planning is the conscious effort to determine the number and spacing of births. It is the right of individuals and couples to freely and responsibly decide the number and spacing of their children and to have the information, education and means to do so (1). FP involves determinants of fertility, age of a person at first sexual intercourse, or marriage, postpartum lactation, contraception, sterilization and treatment of infertility (2). The family planning methods currently in use were developed with the progress in the fields of science and technology. Today, there are a variety of modern reliable FP methods; including hormonal pills (injectable & implants), barrier methods, and sterilization. The method chosen by the individual depends on individual preferences, available methods, costs, socio- cultural factors and the government's policy (3).
The labour unions and management of large manufacturers, plantations and many other types of companies in India, Indonesia and Kenya have added Family Planning to the basic clinical health care services (7). In some Latin American and Caribbean countries, the National Social Security System incorporates family planning for employees and their families (8,9) Literature review indicates that employees using family planning, have small family size and had less events of on job accidents (10,11) which are believed to have a maximizing effect on production (12).
Family Health Department, Ministry of Health As a member state of World Health Organization, Ethiopia adopted PHC into the National Health Policy and launched a MCH/FP programme in 1979. On the other hand private physicians and Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia started provision of FP Services in 1963 and 1966 respectively. However, Family Planning services are mostly limited in health institutions in the country. This and other FP services constraints have resulted in low National Contraceptive Prevalence Rate of about 2% (14). Moreover, the work area Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) and FP service provision system are hardly documented in Ethiopia. The objective of this survey is to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of Family planning among Ethiopian Domestic Distribution Corporation (EDDC) employees and also to formulate pertinent recommendation for the development of work area based FP programme. METHODSA survey was done on the employees of the Ethiopian Domestic Distributions Corporation (EDDC) in April 1990. EDDC is owned by the Ethiopian government and distribute domestic goods through a number of branches at the regional & district level. EDDC has its own central clinic staffed by two health assistants and a part time employed physician providing curative service to the employees. This survey included only employees at the Head Quarter, located in Ketchenae district, in the city of Addis Ababa. A study population of 201 employees, 145 men and 56 women were selected by systemic random sampling, every 41h personnel of the 900 employees from the computerized payroll roster was registered. A Structured questionnaire and an instruction manual were prepared for the interviewers. The questionnaire was pre-tested on 50 of the employees; who were later excluded from the main study. A minor modification was made on the questionnaire according to the pre-test results. Four interviewers, two males and two females were trained and involved in the pre-testing and interviewing of the male and female respondents respectively. Collected data included; age, educational level, ethnicity, religion, martial status, number of children ever born to the couple, the desired ideal number of children in life, and the number or children born to employees within the last 12 months. Furthermore, data concerning FP knowledge, attitude and its utilization were collected. Respondents who knew at least one method of FP were categorized as knowledgable, and their attitudes towards FP utilization were recorded as either positive or negative. Respondents who have used FP services in the past were categorized as ever used and those who were using contraceptives during the survey as current users. The primary sources of family planning information to the respondents were obtained and factors associated with FP never users and discontinuers were identified using the developed formats. The data was compiled and analyzed using descriptive statistical methods and chi square was applied to investigate the existence of differences in FP knowledge, attitude and utilization among male and female respondents. |