Teaching medical students about family planning: experiences from a primary health care course in Lagos, Nigeria.

In 1979, the College of Medicine, Lagos, Nigeria embarked on a new curriculum, which places more emphasis on primary health care in line with the needs of the country. This paper discusses one aspect of the primary health care course, family planning, which involves teaching a practical subject to a large number of students within a relatively short period of time and with limited patient contact. It is hoped that some of the ideas discussed can be of use to other medical teachers faced with similar dilemmas.