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Introduction: Improving reproductive health of young women in least developed countries requires access to safe and effective contraceptive methods. We conducted a study on knowledge, determinants and use of modern contraceptives among married women in Sabon Gari, Zaria-Northern Nigeria.Objective : The study aimed to assess contraceptive knowledge, sources of information, determinants and use of modern FP.Methods: This was a cross sectional descriptive and health facility-based study. Respondents were selected consecutively from the out-patient clinic register of Comprehensive Health Centre, ABUTH Sabon Gari, Zaria. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data.Results: Only 309 questionnaires were finally analyzed. Mean age of respondents was 32.8 +/9.6 years. Majority (78%) were Muslim, married and in monogamous union (72.2%). Knowledge of modern FP was almost universal 97.7% even though knowledge of two or more methods was 55.3%. Mean number of contraceptives known by respondents was 2. About 42.7% of respondents have ever used any contraceptive method. The Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) was 15.2% and the preferred FP choice among respondents was the injectable contraceptives (5.2%). Sources of information on FP were Nurse 42.1% and relatives/friends 19.7%. Significant determinants of FP current use among the respondents include the age, education, occupation, religion and choice of the respondents ( P < 0.05).Conclusions: FP use among study participants attending the centre is low despite good knowledge of modern contraception. Factors associated with contraceptive use should be used by all tiers of Government to organize sustained publicity awareness campaigns in order to improve acceptability and usage.

Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are responsible for a variety of health problems especially among the youth who engage in risky sexual behavior. There are few studies that describe STIs among the youths in Northern Nigeria. The objective of the study was to assess knowledge of STIs and risk factors among secondary school youth.Materials and Methods: This was a cross.sectional study in which structured, self.administered questionnaire was used to collect data on socio.demographics, knowledge on STIs, and risk factors. Three senior secondary schools were purposively selected for the study.Results: A total of 1765 youths aged 10.30 years with mean age of 16.9 } 2.0 years participated in the study. 1371 (77.7%) and 394 (22.3%) were respectively Muslim and Christian. Mean age at first sexual intercourse was 16.7 } 2.0 years. A majority (67.6%) of them heard about STIs; sources of information of STIs were school lessons 23.6%, mass media 23.3%, and health magazines 19.2%, respectively. Generally, knowledge on STIs was good as 75.4% of respondents knew how the disease is transmitted. This knowledge was significantly associated with class of student, place of treatment, and religious teaching (X2 = 9.6, P = 0.047, X2= 22.1, P = 0.035 and 42.6, P = 0.001, respectively). Mean knowledge score was 0.698 } 0.01. A majority of respondents were engaged in risky sexual behavior as only 16.2% use condom as a preventive measure. Eleven percent reported ever having an STI in the past and majority (52.8%) go to government hospital for treatment of acquired STI. 56% of the youth had two or more boy/girl friends and 30% had sexual relationships.Conclusion: It was concluded that secondary school youth had good knowledge about STIs; however, the opposite is true when it comes to preventive practice (use of condom). Interventions such as periodic publicity awareness and school seminars focusing on STI preventions are needed to control the disease among the youth.

Introduction: Malaria in pregnancy (MIP) is one of the leading causes of maternal deaths and adverse pregnancy outcomes in Nigeria. All pregnant women in the country are at risk of MIP. Since 2001, intermittent preventive therapy (IPTp) using pyrimethamine sulfadoxinewas recommended by the World Health Organization as a strategy for prevention of MIP. Nigeria adopted this policy in 2005. This study was carried out to determine the effects of training primary health care workers on the utilization of IPTp among pregnant women who attend antenatal clinics in Sabon-Gari local government area (LGA) of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Methodology: Using quasi-experimental pre and post study design. Two LGAs were sampled, SabonGari the intervention LGA and Zaria LGA as the control. One hundred and seventy clients each from the 6 Primary Health Care Centers (PHCs) in Sabon-Gari, the study and 5 PHCs in Zaria LGA, the control were selected. Semi-structured, Pre-tested questionnaires and focused group discussion (FGD) guides were used as an instrument of data collection from the clients' pre- and post-intervention. Data were analyzed with SPSS 17 and STATA 12SE. Relationships between variables were tested using χ2 at P Results: Majority of the clients aged 20-24 years, were married, Hausa Muslims Intermittent preventive therapy had mainly primary education, and earn Conclusion: This research has demonstrated significant improvement in the knowledge and utilization of the IPTp by the clients in the study LGA when the health care workers were trained compared with where such training was not conducted, in the control LGA.