Women In Nigeria Research Articles

Predictors of Payment Methods for Health Care, Perception and Use of the National Health Insurance Scheme among Pregnant Women in Nigeria

Objective: To determine the predictors of payment methods for health care, perception and use of National health insurance scheme (NHIS) among pregnant women in a low income country. Methods: An adapted, pretested, semi-structured, interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 770 pregnant women attending antenatal care (ANC) services in the two selected tertiary health institutions in south-east Nigeria. All consenting pregnant women attending ANC in the facilities irrespective of age and reason for visit were included. Data analysis was by SPSS version 25. Logistic regression model was used to predict the factors influencing perception and use of NHIS. Statistical significance was accepted when P- value was <0.05. Results: Up to 70.9% of the respondents pay for health care out of their pockets for health services while only 20.0% use the NHIS. Fifty-two percent practice a monthly budget while 67.0% were aware of NHIS. The women had varied perceptions and concerns about NHIS which ranged from inability of the scheme to cover healthcare costs, and reduce hardships from high cost of health care to use of poor quality drugs. Eight (5.2%) of the 154 women that registered with the scheme had never used it. There were statistically significant association between level of education (x2= 107.7, p<0.001), respondents’ occupation (x2=49.6, p<0.001), respondents’ spouse occupation (x2=103.3, p<0.001), monthly income (x2=55.0, p<0.001) as well as age of the respondent (x2=8.2, p=0.004) and the awareness of NHIS in both facilities. Respondents aged less than 39 years were 0.46 times less likely to use NHIS compared to those 39 years and above (AOR=0.46, p< 0.022, 95%CI = 0.236 –0.900). Use of NHIS was significantly associated with educational level (x2=19.0, p<0.001) and occupation of spouse (x2=24.0, p<0.001) in both facilities. There was a significant difference in the method of use of NHIS between the two hospitals (x2=14.83, p<0.001). Conclusion: Majority of pregnant women still pay for health care by out-of-pocket method and awareness about the NHIS was fair and a good number of the women were willing to enrol in the scheme if offered the opportunity. Significant predictors for NHIS use were maternal age, occupation of spouse and income.

Protocol for a Longitudinal Analysis of the Vaginal Microbiome from a Pregnant Cohort of African Women in Nigeria.

BackgroundThe vaginal microbiota is an important component of the reproductive health of women as it offers protection against urogenital infection. African women are reported to have a vaginal microbiota colonized with high proportions of strict anaerobes rather than lactobacillus- dominated microbes. These strict anaerobes have been associated with pre-term birth and neonatal disease. The prevalence of pre-term birth (PTB) in Africa poses a major challenge to reproductive healthcare, hence the clinical and scientific attention focused on understanding the causative mechanisms of PTB. A pragmatic approach to curbing PTB requires the identification of the vaginal microbiome during various stages of a healthy pregnancy (the ‘normal’). This information will provide baseline data for future investigations of vaginal microbiome that may cause PTB (the ‘abnormal’). We present a protocol for the longitudinal analysis of vaginal microbiome in a cohort of pregnant women in Southwest Nigeria.MethodsWe propose to recruit 51 pregnant Nigerian women, enrolling them into the study at 17-21 gestational weeks. Two vaginal swab samples and three milliliters of blood would be collected at enrollment. Sample collection will be repeated at 27-31 weeks’ gestation, ≥36 weeks’ gestation, 24-48 hours after birth and 6 weeks post-partum. DNA will be extracted from the vaginal samples and 16S rRNA sequencing would be performed. Blood samples collected would be assayed by ELISA technique for placental steroid hormones. Data will be statistically analyzed and considered in the light of vaginal microbial diversity, clinical, nutrition and other health data.Conclusion and Global Health ImplicationOur data set will bring new insights into the vaginal microbiome of apparently healthy African women in pregnancy and postpartum, which should serve as a baseline for the investigation of vaginal microbes that may provide useful information for the prediction and management of preterm birth. It is anticipated that these data will facilitate future personalized therapeutic management and consequently improve the reproductive health fitness of women in Africa.

Theological Education of Seventh-day Adventist Women in Nigeria

Theological Education of Seventh-day Adventist Women in Nigeria

Socio-Economic Implication of Political and Economic Participation of Women in Nigeria

This paper examined social-economic impacts of economic and political empowerment of women in Nigeria between 1990–2018. To achieve our main objective, we employed a trend analysis and ARDL technique with data sourced from the WDI (2019) and various issues of National Bureau of Statistics. We observed that the growth of women (between age 15 and 64) in labour force participation in Nigeria is trending downwardly during the period under consideration. While the proportion of female representation in the parliament has been on the increase since the advent of the fourth Republic in 1999. Finally, we unsurprisingly, discovered that despite the huge resources committed to advocacy for women’s empowerment, the social costs in terms of the increased crime rate among youth and the level of insecurity in the country significantly overwhelmed the economic benefits in term of increased economic growth. Consequently, we inter alia recommended that the governments together with these advocacy groups should channel the same amount of resources devoted to campaigns for women empowerment into reversing the ugly trend of juvenile delinquency if the level of insecurity in Nigeria is to be curtailed. And, the proposed bill by the National Assembly and the 36 state Houses of Assemblies to increase the maternity leave from its current level of 3 months to 6 months should be fast-track and duly implemented across board in both public and private organizations.

Poverty among Women in Nigeria–Psychological and Economic Perspective: A Study Based On South West, Nigeria

The aim of this study is to provide an evidenced-based psychological and economic perspective on the rising level of poverty among women in Nigeria. The rationale for the study is anchored on the latest reports by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that Nigeria is now home to the largest number of poorest people in the world. Women constitute over 60% of the poorest people in Nigeria and going by the IMF statistics that Nigeria has over 87 million people in extreme poverty translates to approximately 52 million women on the clutches of extreme poverty. Although there have been efforts by successive governments in Nigeria to improve the livelihood of women in Nigeria and lift them out from poverty, the facts on the ground are not encouraging as a large number of women continues to wallow in extreme poverty. With the benefits of inter-disciplinary research that intersects at the boundaries of finance and psychology, this study investigated possible psychological factors such as job involvement, self-efficacy and goal orientation that could be implicated in this scenario. The study used survey design in two states in South Western Nigeria namely: Lagos and Ogun. 600 women (400 in Lagos and 200 in Ogun) were sampled. The sampling was cross-sectional and respondents were selected through a multi-stage purposive sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was scaled and a step-wise multiple regression was used for testing the hypothesis. Results of the analysis showed that all the explanatory variables namely: self-efficacy, goal orientation and job involvement were significant predictors of women pre-disposition to engaging in productive activities. The result showed that women who are cognitively goal oriented strives to develop skills and are more disposed to take up productive investments (job oriented). Based on these findings, the study recommended, amongst others, that efforts should be made to re-tool the approach to women development in Nigeria through skill acquisition and value reorientation.

The Single Female Worker: An Intersectional Study of Professional Women in Nigeria

The work-life literature on single employees although expansive, typically does not distinguish women from men. This distinction is important in light of gender status beliefs that attribute lower ...

Socioeconomic Differentials in Employment Status and Involvement in Household Decision-Making Among Ever-Married Women in Nigeria.

Prior studies have assessed economic/instrumental dimensions of women's empowerment relative to its agency dimensions. This study assessed ever-married women's participation in the labor market as a form of agency for empowerment and household decision-making in Nigeria. The study utilizes secondary data from three national surveys of Nigeria's 2003, 2008, and 2013 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to assess the differences and relationship between indices and the status of women's labor market participation and their empowerment or household decision-making over an 11-year period. Explanatory variables adopted were age group, religion, employment status, educational level, household wealth index, and region. Binomial logistic regression was used to predict the proxy variables of women's empowerment from the explanatory variables. Findings showed that women's access to paid employment, educational status, and the household wealth index improved their participation in household decision-making. However, the single factor that consistently increased the likelihood of an ever-married woman to be involved in all forms of household decision-making from 2008 to 2013 was household wealth. Also, religion affected the ability of ever-married women to participate in household decision-making. The ability of Muslim women to participate in all forms of decision-making decreased from 2008 to 2013. The study concluded that the factors that enhance household wealth will enhance married women's ability to be involved in household decision-making. Education of women is, however, a significant contribution to enhancing the balance of inequity between men and women in household decision-making. The attenuating effect of Islam on this prospect needs further investigation and interventions for married women living in Northern Nigeria.

Estimated Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus Among Women in Nigeria: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis [14C

INTRODUCTION: Human papillomavirus (HPV) remains the leading cause of cervical cancer worldwide. Overall HPV prevalence in Nigeria has been challenging to quantify given regional population heterogeneity and differences in diagnostic methodology. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 17 studies using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocols and guidelines. We also incorporated the Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology Guidelines for Reporting. Each study summarized HPV prevalence in HIV-uninfected women residing in various regions of Nigeria at the time of the study. A random effects model was used to establish an estimated pooled HPV prevalence. We calculated median values with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: The estimated pooled prevalence of HPV in Nigeria was 32% (23-41%). HPV prevalence was 29% (20-39%) among studies that detected HPV by genotype. HPV prevalence among studies that used serologic detection was 38% (12-65%). When stratified by region, studies in northeast Nigeria reported the highest prevalence of 55% (49-61%) while a study in west Nigeria reported the lowest prevalence of 22% (14-30%). For meta-analysis stratified by detection method, the P value for heterogeneity testing was .52. Stratifying by location yielded a heterogeneity test P value of P&lt;.001. CONCLUSION: HPV prevalence in Nigeria was high. Heterogeneity between study regions and differing HPV detection methods may both contribute to variation in estimates. Using pooled estimates may serve to inform future strategies for epidemiological surveillance and the future design of disease prevention initiatives.

Multi-Center Study on the Prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Herpes Simplex Virus Type-2 Co-Infection among Pregnant Women in Nigeria

Multi-Center Study on the Prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Herpes Simplex Virus Type-2 Co-Infection among Pregnant Women in Nigeria

Predictors of Postnatal Care Services Utilization Among Women in Nigeria: A Facility-Based Study.

Adequate utilization of postnatal care (PNC) services is a major contributing factor to reducing maternal mortality among women. Hence, this study was designed to assess the level of utilization of PNC services and its predictors among postpartum women in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive design. A total of 405 postpartum women from primary healthcare centers in five selected local government areas in Ekiti State participated in this study. A self-structured questionnaire was used to collect data, which were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Data were presented using descriptive (means, frequencies, and percentages) and inferential (Pearson's chi square and binary logistic regression) statistics. The mean age of the women was 27 ± 8 years. A preponderance of the respondents (98.8%) were aware of PNC services, of which only 22% utilized PNC services after their last delivery. Those who did not utilize PNC services identified some of the barriers to their utilization, which included poor attitude of the healthcare providers and insufficient financial resources. The rate of utilization was found to be significantly higher among those who were 25 to 34 years of age (p = .03), who had formal education (p = .04), who were employed (p = .01), who had made use of an antenatal care (ANC) clinic (p = .02), and who had a good level of knowledge about PNC (p = .02). Furthermore, a prior experience with PNC services reduced by almost 90% the odds of a mother's subsequent utilization after her last delivery (odds ratio 0.10; confidence interval 0.05-0.24). The majority of respondents in this study were aware of PNC services, but this did not translate to utilization of the services. Also, the rate of utilization of PNC services was significantly associated with certain sociodemographic factors such as age, educational status, employment status, use of an ANC clinic, and level of knowledge about PNC. This study provides pertinent knowledge for healthcare providers, especially nurses, who provide PNC services.

Societal Perceptions of Breast Cancer among Elderly Women in Nigeria

The study examined the impact of the societal perceptions of breast cancer among elderly women on both its care and prevention in south-eastern Nigeria. A representative sample of adult members of the population was drawn in three local government areas in Enugu State. The study drew its rationale from the recognition that the societal perceptions of the causes, nature and management of breast cancer can make a major difference in whether aged women in Nigeria afflicted by breast cancer survive or not. The data were collected using a multistage sampling technique that consisted of a questionnaire and in-depth interviews. It was found that there is a need for more awareness creation, sensitivity workshops and the committed involvement of social workers, counsellors and allied professionals in providing care and counselling for elderly women, as they are often perceived as lying beyond reproductive health ailments in popular discourse.Â

Determine Significant Factors Related to Malaria among Pregnant Women in Nigeria by Logistic Regression Analysis

Determine Significant Factors Related to Malaria among Pregnant Women in Nigeria by Logistic Regression Analysis

Domestic Violence against Women in Nigeria: Economic and Legal Dimensions

Several reports reveal escalating levels of violence against women in Nigeria and around the world. This paper thus investigated domestic violence in Nigeria from the perspective of economic costs and legal instruments enacted to control the menace. The result confirms that domestic violence has severe economic cost in Nigeria ranging from cost of justice, health care services, social services, education, business and employment cost, to household and personal cost running into billions of naira. Various international and local legal instruments applicable in Nigeria have also been examined. However, the numerous gaps, inconsistent provisions and poor implementation of laws have denied women in Nigeria the protection the law can guarantee. The paper thus recommends the harmonization of all legislation related to domestic violence. All legislation be also amended to bring them in line with the human rights and gender equality requirements. Finally, Religious and traditional institutions should be co-opted to sensitize the people within their domain on the ills of violence particularly of this genre.

Deliberative and Struggle Theories of Rights Realisation: Examining the Protection of Women in Nigeria

This article investigates the theories of a deliberative approach to human rights protection and the struggle theory as propounded by Dembour in the first instance and also by Heyns. It contends that the protection of women against violence in Nigeria is experiencing a wave of challenges, especially in an effort to dismantle the strangleholds of culture and religion in its perception and interpretation. The article further examines the role an enhanced human rights education can play in achieving this aspiration. It notes that the Education for Justice initiative (E4J) of the United Nations Office on Crimes and Drugs represents a clear example of the role that both the deliberative and the struggle approaches can play in realising human rights towards creating lawfulness through education at all levels. Relying on a qualitative methodical approach, the authors have identified gaps and have made suggestions about bringing about the desired change.

Dimensions of Exclusion and Inclusion of Women in Nigeria

Uneven social progress among humankind over the past decades has fostered exclusion and has done little to promote inclusion. Inequality pervades economic, social, political, cultural, and environmental spheres, thus constituting systematic disadvantage for some social groups on the basis of their identity. Women are particularly at risk of social exclusion because of complex and intersectional factors that combine to reduce their participation in society. This paper using a desk research method by reviewing existing literature examines how women are excluded and their level of inclusion in three major interrelated domains: markets, services, and spaces. The paper argues that the continual exclusion of women in these domains reduces their productive capacity and the rate of reducing their poverty level, despite the existence of the Gender Equality Policy in Nigeria. Perceptions, practices, and norms are among the processes through which societies render them to subordinate status, and these have become formidable barriers to the full inclusion of women. The government interventions through policies have proved ineffective in this regard. The paper concludes that mainstreaming governance programmes or processes to ensure equality at all levels, must be seen as a political priority. Basic government services should be programmed to meet women’s needs

Gender Access to Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene in Rural Communities in Benue State, Nigeria

Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) has become a prevalent issue in Nigeria. Many communities lack WASH facilities in the country. Women in Nigeria are responsible for WASH. To ensure WASH in the family, women depend directly on the availability of WASH facilities in the communities. Despite the important roles women play in ensuring WASH in the house, they face various challenges. These challenges call for research. Therefore, this study examines gender and WASH and adopted a mix methodology. A total of 1,300 participants responded to the household survey questions, 480 participated in the focus group discussion and 60 key informants were interviewed. Purposive sampling technique was used to select participants for household survey, FGD and KII. Questionnaire, interview and direct observation were utilized in collecting data. Findings of the study revealed that cultural practices, education, gender inequalities, poor access to WASH services/facilities, low level of awareness, lack of sustainability of existing WASH facilities and lack of capacity of agencies was responsible for poor gender access to WASH services. The study recommended that more women development programs on WASH should be formulated and implemented rural Nigeria. Also, there is need to build the capacity of CSOs/NGOs to strategically provide WASH services.

Age at First Sexual Intercourse and Multiple Sexual Partnerships Among Women in Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.

Background: Little is known about sexual behavior such as first sexual intercourse and number of sexual partnerships among women in Nigeria. Early sexual debut is a widely recognized public health issue due to its influence on higher lifetime sexual partners which in turn is associated with increased vulnerability to pregnancy complications, HIV/AIDS and other and sexually-transmitted diseases. In the present study, we attempted to explore the patterns of age of sexual debut and multiple sexual partnerships among women of reproductive age in Nigeria.Methods: Women who responded to the questions about the age at first sex and number of lifetime sex partners were selected from two latest rounds Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). In total 60,611 women aged between 15 and 49 years were selected for this analysis. Age at sexual debut was used as the predictor of multiple sexual partnerships which was assessed by multinomial regression models with logit link function in complex sample analysis mode.Results: The median age at first sex was 16 years (Interquartile range 16–24). Age at first sexual intercourse below the age of 19 years was reported by 30.8% of the women. Respectively 45.4% (95%CI = 42.9–47.9) 49.8% (95%CI = 47.8–51.7) of the women reported experiencing first intercourse before reaching 15 and 17 years, whereas 46.9% (95%CI = 45.2–48.7) of the women reported being monogamous and 47.2% (95%CI = 45.6–48.8) and 47.6% (95%CI = 43.8–51.3) had 2–3 and >3 lifetime sexual partners. In multivariable analysis after adjusting for confounding factors, women having sexual debut below 18 years were found to be significantly more likely to have 2–3 and more than 3 lifetime sexual partner.Conclusion: The study concludes that an increasing proportion of Nigerian women are experiencing sexual debut before reaching 15 years. The findings suggest that early sexual debut is associated with multiple sexual partnerships which may increase the risk of STIs. Stakeholders in health care system need to be aware that early sexual debut can be associated with successive unsafe sexual practices which can lead to adverse health outcomes including HIV infection and STIs, early marriage, unwanted pregnancy, and abortion. Therefore, it is important to design effective interventions to encourage women delay sexual debut to help prevent unintended pregnancies and decrease the disproportionate burden of adverse health outcomes.

Development of a Breast Cancer Risk Prediction Model for Women in Nigeria.

Background: Risk prediction models have been widely used to identify women at higher risk of breast cancer. We aimed to develop a model for absolute breast cancer risk prediction for Nigerian women.Methods: A total of 1,811 breast cancer cases and 2,225 controls from the Nigerian Breast Cancer Study (NBCS, 1998-2015) were included. Subjects were randomly divided into the training and validation sets. Incorporating local incidence rates, multivariable logistic regressions were used to develop the model.Results: The NBCS model included age, age at menarche, parity, duration of breastfeeding, family history of breast cancer, height, body mass index, benign breast diseases, and alcohol consumption. The model developed in the training set performed well in the validation set. The discriminating accuracy of the NBCS model [area under ROC curve (AUC) = 0.703, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.687-0.719] was better than the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS) model (AUC = 0.605; 95% CI, 0.586-0.624), Gail model for white population (AUC = 0.551; 95% CI, 0.531-0.571), and Gail model for black population (AUC = 0.545; 95% CI, 0.525-0.565). Compared with the BWHS and two Gail models, the net reclassification improvement of the NBCS model were 8.26%, 13.45%, and 14.19%, respectively.Conclusions: We have developed a breast cancer risk prediction model specific to women in Nigeria, which provides a promising and indispensable tool to identify women in need of breast cancer early detection in Sub-Saharan Africa populations.Impact: Our model is the first breast cancer risk prediction model in Africa. It can be used to identify women at high risk for breast cancer screening. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 27(6); 636-43. ©2018 AACR.

Psycho-Social Traumatic Events among Women in Nigeria

Psycho-Social Traumatic Events among Women in Nigeria

Predictors of Body Mass Index among Pregnant Women in Nigeria: A Comparison of Ordinary Least Squares Regression and Quantile Regression Models Using Machine Learning Approach

Predictors of Body Mass Index among Pregnant Women in Nigeria: A Comparison of Ordinary Least Squares Regression and Quantile Regression Models Using Machine Learning Approach