Adolescent Fertility and Sexual Health in Nigeria
This study examines the determinants of adolescent sexual behavior and fertility in Nigeria, with a special focus on knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of adolescents aged 10-19 years old in Karu Local Government Authority (LGA), a peri-urban area...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/03/26007589/adolescent-fertility-sexual-health-nigeria http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24041 |
| Summary: | This study examines the determinants of
adolescent sexual behavior and fertility in Nigeria, with a
special focus on knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of
adolescents aged 10-19 years old in Karu Local Government
Authority (LGA), a peri-urban area near the capital city of
Abuja. Using the last three waves of Demographic and Health
Surveys (2003, 2008, 2013), focus group discussions,
stakeholder interviews, and a specialized survey of 643
girls and boys aged 10-19 years old in Karu LGA, the study
narrows in on key challenges to and opportunities for
improving adolescent sexual and reproductive health
outcomes. The national median age at sexual debut for
adolescent girls and boys is between 15 and 16 years of age.
This is closely emulated in Karu LGA with a median age of
14.8 years for girls and 15.3 years for boys. While data on
pregnancies was limited in the Karu sample, DHS data show
that for girls, sexual debut is closely associated with
marriage or cohabitation, which in turn is a strong
predictor of adolescent fertility. Poverty is another strong
predictor, with the odds of becoming pregnant being twice as
high for adolescents in the lower wealth quintiles compared
to their counterparts in the richest quintile in the
country. While adolescents’ knowledge of contraception has
increased from under 10 percent to over 30 percent, use of
health services among adolescents for SRH (and
contraception) is limited due to factors such as fear of
stigma, embarrassment, and poor access to services,
something also emphasized in focus group discussions.
Challenges for improving adolescent SRH outcomes relate to:
(i) the paucity of data, especially on the 10-14 year olds;
(ii) availability and access to youth-friendly services and
the Family Life and HIV Education (FLHE); (iii) reaching
out-of-school adolescents with SRH information; and (iv)
addressing ambiguities and gaps in Federal law and customs
on age at marriage, and generating support for the legal age
at marriage of at least 18 years old. Addressing these
barriers at the State and sub-regional levels is going to be
critical in improving adolescent well-being. |
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