Search

This paper reports the findings at baseline in a multi-phase project that aimed at reducing maternal mortality in a local government area (LGA) of South-West Nigeria. The objectives were to determine the availability of essential obstetric care (EOC) services in the LGA and to assess the quality of existing services. The first phase of this interventional study, which is the focus of this paper, consisted of a baseline health facility and needs assessment survey using instruments adapted from the United Nations guidelines. Twenty-one of 26 health facilities surveyed were public facilities, and five were privately owned. None of the facilities met the criteria for a basic EOC facility, while only one private facility met the criteria for a comprehensive EOC facility. Three facilities employed a nurse and/or a midwife, while unskilled health attendants manned 46% of the facilities. No health worker in the LGA had ever been trained in lifesaving skills. There was a widespread lack of basic EOC equipment and supplies. The study concluded that there were major deficiencies in the supply side of obstetric care services in the LGA, and EOC was almost non-existent. This result has implications for interventions for the reduction of maternal mortality in the LGA and in Nigeria.

Background: In response to the growing HIV epidemic in Nigeria, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) initiated the VISION Project, which aimed to increase use of family planning, child survival, and HIV/AIDS services. The VISION Project used a mass-media campaign that focused on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention. This paper assesses to what extent program exposure translates into increased awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS., Methods: This analysis is based on data from the 2002 and 2004 Nigeria (Bauchi, Enugu, and Oyo) Family Planning and Reproductive Health Surveys, which were conducted among adults living in the VISION Project areas. To correct for endogeneity, two-stage logistic regression is used to investigate the effect of program exposure on 1) discussion of HIV/AIDS with a partner, 2) awareness that consistent condom use reduces HIV risk, and 3) condom use at last intercourse., Results: Exposure to the VISION mass media campaign was high: 59%, 47%, and 24% were exposed to at least 1 VISION radio, printed advertisement, or TV program about reproductive health, respectively. The differences in outcome variables between 2002 baseline data and the 2004 follow-up data were small. However, those with high program exposure were almost one and a half (Odds Ratio [O.R.] = 1.47, 95% Confidence Interval [C.I.] 1.01-2.16) times more likely than those with no exposure to have discussed HIV/AIDS with a partner. Those with high program exposure were over twice (O.R. = 2.20, C.I. 1.49-3.25) as likely as those with low exposure to know that condom use can reduce risk of HIV infection. Program exposure had no effect on condom use at last sex., Conclusion: The VISION Project reached a large portion of the population and exposure to mass media programs about reproductive health and HIV prevention topics can help increase HIV/AIDS awareness. Programs that target rural populations, females, and unmarried individuals, and disseminate information on where to obtain condoms, are needed to reduce barriers to condom use. Improvements in HIV/AIDS prevention behaviour are likely to require that these programmatic efforts be continued, scaled up, done in conjunction with other interventions, and targeted towards individuals with specific socio-demographic characteristics.

This study was conducted among the Yoruba of South-West Nigeria to examine the role of men in emergency obstetric care, as men determine whether and when their spouses visit health clinics in most cultures. Simple random sampling was used to select 900 households from three communities in Osun State, south-west Nigeria. Separate interviewers interviewed the man and his wife in each of the households. In polygamous families, two wives of reproductive age were also interviewed. The quantitative survey was complemented with a number of focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and key informant interviews. There was high level of awareness of emergency obstetric conditions by men, particularly in relation to pregnancy signs and labour pains (53.2%). Respondents reported that men play useful roles during their partner's obstetric conditions (89.2%). Women take decisions on health-seeking behaviour during emergency obstetric conditions in the absence of the male partner. Education is found to be the major determinant of this change in male knowledge and behaviour. There is a need to further promote universal basic education in the country especially in areas where the observable change in this study has not been noted. There is also a need to extend the study to other zones in Nigeria in order to have a national picture.

This study analyses the social, physiological and motivational determinants of sexual activity for 644 married women in rural areas of Osun State, Nigeria. The data come from the Fertility Awareness and Pregnancy Avoidance study conducted in 1993-94. Sexual activity is measured by three continuous variables: weekly frequency of (1) total sexual activity, (2) coital-only sex and (3) both coital/non-coital sex. Analyses of variance were performed to test the difference in group means between the predictor variables and measures of sexual activity. Ordinary least squares regression analyses were then performed for the three dependent variables. Two models are used: the first contains only those variables associated with an individual's demographic, social and economic status, and the second adds predictor variables associated with motivational and physiological factors. Results show that while many socioeconomic variables by themselves are significantly associated with sexual activity measures, the addition of physiological and motivational variables weakens their effects and lessens their original statistical significance. Additionally, the socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with frequency of sexual activity are not necessarily the same ones significantly associated with coital-only or combined coital/non-coital sex. While other studies have tended to focus either on socioeconomic or physiological factors, the joint examination of both types of influences seems to indicate that the latter have more proximate effects on the frequency of both coital and non-coital sexual activity of married women in this population. Contraceptive protection is shown to be highly positively associated with all three of the sexual activity measures, empirically confirming the important relationship between contraception and both coital and non-coital forms of sexual activity.

This paper discusses the reproductive health knowledge of Nigerian in-school adolescents, with special reference to pregnancy occurrence at first coitus. The data were derived from an Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) survey carried out in four secondary schools in Ibadan, Nigeria, between August and October 1995. A total of 828 students were interviewed. The results revealed that the majority of sexually active adolescents were not aware of the consequences of their actions. Religious affiliation and number of wives in a male adolescent's family, and religion and marital status of a female adolescent's parents, were found to influence adolescents' knowledge of pregnancy probability at first coitus. This paper confirms earlier findings that the majority of Nigerian adolescents do not know the consequences of sex. Therefore, a clear-cut plan of action is needed to inform sexually active adolescents through an effective sex education programme.