Abstract
PurposeAdolescents 360 (A360) is an initiative being rolled out across Nigeria with the aim of increasing voluntary modern contraception use among women aged 15 to 19 years. Using evaluation study baseline data, we identified sexuality, fertility and contraceptive use characteristics of young unmarried girls in South Western Nigeria.MethodsA cross-sectional baseline survey of unmarried girls aged 15 to 19 years was conducted in Ogun state, Nigeria in August 2017. A clustered sampling design was used. We identified determinants of modern contraceptive use in this subpopulation using logistic regression.ResultsOf 12,024 women interviewed, 15.3% reported sexual intercourse in the past year. The majority of respondents (79.6%, 9525/11,967) had heard of contraception. 45.3% of sexually active respondents were using a modern contraceptive method. Of those using any method of contraception, male condoms (50.3%) were the most widely used modern method followed by the emergency contraceptive pill (16.7%). Following adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics, there was evidence that the use of modern contraception was positively associated with having never given birth, living in an urban area, current enrolment in education, high level of education, high socioeconomic status, exposure to information about contraception, perceived social support for contraception, and self-efficacy for contraception.ConclusionsIn South Western Nigeria, unmarried sexually active adolescent girls have relatively low levels of modern contraceptive use. Programmes should aim to increase access to modern contraception and to increase social support and acceptability of contraceptive use.
Highlights
Despite increases in both knowledge about modern contraception (MC) and desire to delay or space child births, many sub-Saharan African (SSA) women still have low uptake of modern contraceptives and high rates of unmet need [1, 2]
Even though they had heard about modern contraception, they did not know any place where they would feel comfortable getting it
Women were more likely to use modern contraception if they had never given birth before, lived in a city, had spent more time in school, were in school had heard about contraception, felt their family and friends supported them in using contraception, and felt able to get contraception
Summary
Despite increases in both knowledge about modern contraception (MC) and desire to delay or space child births, many sub-Saharan African (SSA) women still have low uptake of modern contraceptives and high rates of unmet need [1, 2]. Closing this gap is a global priority currently being addressed through the Family planning 2020 (FP2020) initiative and United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3 and 5 focusing on health and well-being for all and gender equality [3, 4]. For the goals of FP2020 and SDG 3 and 5 to be achieved, more information is needed on factors associated with contraceptive use among unmarried girls in low contraceptive prevalence settings such as Nigeria
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