Contraception: awareness and practice amongst Nigerian tertiary school girls
Adinma, J.I.; Okeke, A.O.
West African Journal of Medicine 14(1): 34-38
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0189-160X PMID: 7626530 Document Number: 293630
Analysis of a sample of 498 female students in Tertiary Schools in Anambra state in Nigeria reveals 54.2% were nonmedical students (NMD) and 45.8% were medical students (MD). The mean age was 21.8 years, and 87.1% were younger than 25. 36.6% of NMD and only 20.7% of MD were exposed to sexual intercourse. Pregnancy was highest among the sexually exposed group (30.5% compared to 24.7%). The incidence of pregnancy was 14.0% for the NMD group and 3.2% among the MD group. 92.2% knew about oral contraceptives. Students were least aware of traditional methods (42.6%). Contraceptive awareness was almost the same for NMD and MD groups. Mean contraceptive usage, however, was higher among the NMD group (14.8%) compared to the MD group (8.7%). Mean contraceptive usage among both groups was 23.5%. The most commonly used method was the safe period (36.8% for NMDs and 22.5% for MDs). 1.4% indicated a lack of knowledge about sources of contraception, and 3.6% did not answer. Most students belonged to a Christian religion among this largely Igbo-speaking population. 35% belonged to the Roman Catholic Mission, which may be the reason for the low modern method use. Peers were the primary source of information on contraception.