A quality of care issue: Appropriate use and efficacy knowledge of five contraceptive methods: Views of men and women living in low socioeconomic settlements of Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: To assess knowledge regarding availability, affordability, appropriate use and efficacy for five non-permanent contraceptive methods. Methods: Married Muslim women and men (500 each) were randomly selected from two low socioeconomic settlements in Karachi, Pakistan. Interviews to assess their knowledge on a range of contraceptive and abortion themes were conducted. Four hundred men and 357 women were selected from this larger sample based on their knowledge of condoms, withdrawal, oral pills, injectables and IUDs. Results: Nearly half of the sampled men (56%) and women (48%) were contraceptive users. Knowledge regarding contraception, a specific method, its availability and affordability was high. Appropriate use knowledge for condoms was 73% among men (users 78%, non-users 60%; p-value<0.001 ) and 5% among women. Efficacy knowledge was generally poor. Conclusions: Low knowledge levels regarding appropriate use and efficacy even among contraceptive users suggests, that quality of family planning services should not be limited to service delivery issues but extend to appropriate use and efficacy knowledge levels among clients.