Meeting Young Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs in Nigeria

Meeting Young Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs in Nigeria

Reported, December 10, 2011

 Educational attainment of young women in Nigeria has increased in all parts of the country
since 1990, but levels and trends vary widely across regions; by 2003, the proportion of
women aged 15–19 having some secondary education ranged from 17% in the North West
to 78% in the South East.
The proportion of young women living in urban areas has risen in all regions except the
South West.
The prevalence of marriage among female adolescents declined in Nigeria, from 39% to 33%, between 1990 and 2003. As of the latter year, early marriage was far more common in the North East and North West regions (59–73%) than in the southern regions (3–10%).
Early childbearing is also declining but still common: In 2003, almost one in three women aged 20–24 had had a child by age 18.
Use of modern contraceptives among sexually active female adolescents has increased in most parts of the country but remains extremely low. Nationally, the proportion using modern methods doubled from 4% in 1990 to 8% in 2003. It is far higher in the South South and South West (26–39%) than in other regions.
Nearly one-third of sexually active women aged 15–24 had an unmet need for modern contraceptives in 2003.
Government policies and strategies promoting the sexual and reproductive health of young people in Nigeria have not been successfully carried out.
International, national and local nongovernmental organizations are implementing programs to promote the reproductive health of Nigerian youth.
Improving the sexual and reproductive health of young people will require coordination of disparate efforts; financial commitment on the part of the federal and state governments; and consideration of the varying religious, sociocultural, familial and educational circumstances of adolescents in Nigeria

The findings of this report confirm that in a broad sense, the sexual and reproductive lives of adolescent women in two out of the three northern regions of Nigeria differ quite substantially from the lives of those in the three southern regions. Accordingly, the reproductive health needs of these disparate groups also differ. In addition, young women’s needs vary depending on their circumstances and life goals, particularly on whether or not they are married. Two northern regions (the North East and North West) are characterized by increasing but persistently low levels of education and high rates of early marriage and childbearing. Premarital sex is almost nonexistent. Most salient is the finding that the proportion of 15–19-year-olds who have had a child is up to 9–10 times higher in these two northern regions than in the three southern ones.

In all three southern regions, about three out of four young women have had some secondary education,
early marriage is uncommon, and adolescent fertility rates are dropping. In two of these regions, premarital
sexual experience during adolescence is on the rise; in the South West, it appears to be declining.

In the North Central region, certain characteristics of the population have changed dramatically in recent
years and, by 2003, the proportion of adolescent women with some secondary schooling had risen to
a level intermediate between that in the rest of the North and the South, as have rates of adolescent marriage and childbearing.
In all regions, modern contraceptive use among married women is almost nonexistent, and young women’s
knowledge about where family planning methods can be obtained is low. What is more, knowledge actually declined in all six regions between 1990 and 2003. Unmet need for modern contraception is high in Nigeria, and is especially so among never-married women.
In the northern regions where educational attainment is still low and desired family size remains high,
programs that promote schooling and provide antenatal care to adolescent women are essential to ensuring
adolescent reproductive health. In all of the southern regions, there is a dire need for efforts to address the
growing levels of unintended pregnancy and the ominously high levels of unmet need for modern contraception among sexually active never-married adolescents.

Throughout the country, family planning information, counseling and services that are accessible to adolescents will help young Nigerian women achieve their fertility aspirations, even as these continue to change over time and with ongoing development.
A noteworthy feature of adolescent reproductive health interventions in Nigeria is the fact that they are
sponsored by a variety of governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders. The result is piecemeal efforts
with limited impact. Success in the future is contingent on coordinating efforts as well as broadening their
scope. Forums that bring stakeholders together are a viable component of efforts to move in this direction.
These forums could include events focused on strategic planning, technical exchange, the formation of synergistic collaborations or a combination thereof.
Some of the small-scale programs undertaken by the private sector represent models of interventions
that could be successfully implemented on a wider scale. Efforts by the public sector (such as the curriculum for Family Life and HIV/AIDS Education) can also positively impact adolescent reproductive health more
broadly if scaled up. These program expansions require sizeable investments, ideally from the Nigerian government, which has the potential to be the most stable source of program support in the country.
Finally, it is clear that approaches to the health problems of adolescents must come from a broad disciplinary spectrum, to reflect the wide-ranging experiences—religious, social, familial, educational—that shape young
people’s development. Efforts that extend beyond reproductive health interventions can positively affect this
aspect of young people’s lives as well. These include policies and programs that address domestic violence,
economic welfare and women’s empowerment in their communities and in their relationships.
Overall, young women’s lives have improved in some but not all parts of the country. Policies supporting adolescent sexual and reproductive health are now on paper, but they are yet to be translated into meaningful program interventions that can catalyze progress on this front.
One certain obstacle is a severe lack of funding at the national and state government levels. Therefore, a burning question remains: Who will invest in transforming the government’s noble policy declarations into concrete programs and services that will improve the sexual and reproductive health of Nigeria’s adolescents?

Credits & More information:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2009/06/03/ASRH_Nigeria.pdf
Credits:
Gilda Sedgh, Akinrinola Bankole, Friday Okonofua, Collins Imarhiagbe, Rubina Hussain, Deirdre Wul