Sexual Behaviour And Contraceptive Use Among Female Students In A Rural Community In South South Nigeria

Each year an estimated 333 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) occur worldwide with the highest rates among young people. Risk behavior and subsequent STIs, unwanted pregnancies and subsequent criminal abortions are fuelling the already excessive maternal mortality and morbidity rates in developing countries. Yet only a minority of young people have access to any acceptable and affordable adolescent health services. A total of 300 pre-tested semi structured questionnaires were administered to female JSS2 to SSS2 students selected by multistage sampling in August 2014. It contained questions on the socio demographic characteristics of respondents and their knowledge of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and contraceptives and their patterns of sexual activity and contraceptive use. Majority (80.2%) of respondents had heard about contraception, their commonest source of information being radio (57.4%) and television (43.4%). The commonest contraceptive known was the condom (88.1%) and the contraceptive prevalence rate was 24.67%.Most respondents were sexually exposed (42.6%) with 84.3% of these previous 6 months. Mean age at first sexual debut was 12.0 ± 2.8 years. The prevalence of condom use at first and most recent sexual encounters were 31.3% and 57.8% respectively (p<0.005).The commonest reasons for not using contraceptives in both first and most recent encounters were ignorance (67.5%) and the partners dislike for it (17.5%). The inclusion of sex education into the school health programme for secondary school students as well as provision of guidance and counselling services by trained and retrained personnel and motivation of home based information and guidance for adolescents is recommended.. Journal of Experimental Research December 2014, Vol 2 No 2 Email: www.er.journal.com [email protected] Received: February 2014 Accepted for publication: Oct. 2014 An official publication of Enugu State University of Science and Technology ISSN: 2315 9650 65 Author for Correspondence Each year an estimated 333 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) occur worldwide with the highest rates among 20-24 year olds, followed by 15-19 year olds. One in 20 young persons is believed to contract an STI each year excluding HIV and other viral infections and yet only a minority of adolescents have access to any acceptable and affordable STI services. The current prevalence rate of contraceptive use in Nigeria is approximately 11% 13%. The rate is very low in spite of the high rate of sexual activity and wide spread awareness of the various contraceptive methods among Nigerian adolescents and youths . While there is variation in estimates of contraceptive prevalence, statistics generally suggest that the overall use of contraception is extremely low; one 2005 study found contraceptive prevalence to be 14.8 percent overall and 13 percent among married women aged 15–49. Low rates of contraceptive use have resulted in high rates of unintended pregnancy and according to a 2004 study, the percentage of unintended births among Nigerian women is on the rise and contributes to a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) that is among the highest in the world, estimated at 545 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births. The aim of the study was to determine the pattern of sexual behavior among secondary school students, assess their level of awareness of STIs and contraception as well as the contraceptive prevalence rate among them. This study was a descriptive cross sectional study carried out in August 2014 among female students from JSS2 to SSS2 in Elele, Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State in South South Nigeria. Sample size was determined using the formular n=z pq/d =162 where n,z,p and d represented the standard normal deviate at 95 confidence intervals (1.96), contraceptive prevalence(12%) from a previous study and minimum degree of error (5%) respectively. Multistage sampling was done. Stage 1 involved stratification into private and public schools. In stage 2, 2 private and 2 public schools were selected by balloting. Using proportionate sampling at a ratio of 3