Comparative assessment of birth preparedness and complication readiness among couples in rural and urban communities of Ekiti State, Southwestern Nigeria.

Objectives: To assess and compare the level of Birth Preparedness and Complications Readiness (BPCR) and determine the predicting effect of socio-demographic factors on it among couples in rural and urban communities of Ekiti State. Design: A community-based comparative cross-sectional study. Setting: The study was conducted in twelve rural and twelve urban communities in Ekiti State. Participants: Couples from rural and urban communities. Female partners were women of reproductive age group (15-49 years) who gave birth within twelve months before the survey. Main outcome measures: Proportion of couples that were well prepared for birth and obstetric emergencies, and its socio-demographic determinants. Results: The proportion of couples that were well prepared for birth and its complications was significantly higher in urban (60.5%) than rural (48.4%) communities. The study also revealed that living above poverty line (95% CI=1.01-3.79), parity and spousal age difference less than five years (95% CI=1.09 - 2.40) were positive predictors of BPCR among respondents. Conclusions: Urban residents were better prepared than their rural counterparts. Living above poverty line, parity, and spousal age difference less than five years were positive predictors of BPCR. There is a need to emphasize on educating couples on the importance of identifying blood donors as a vital component of BPCR. Funding: None declared.

Sexual exposure, awareness, and knowledge of long-acting reversible contraceptives among female university students in Ekiti State, Nigeria.

Unplanned and unintended pregnancies have become major medical, social and public health issues worldwide. The objective of this study was to determine sexual exposure, awareness and knowledge of long active reversible contraceptives (LARC) among female undergraduate students in public and private universities in Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria. A comparative cross-sectional study was carried out among 428 female university undergraduates in Ekiti State (208 students in public and 210 students in private) using a multi-stage sampling technique. Data were obtained using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23. P-value <0.05 was taken as significant. The mean age of respondents was 21.1±2.5years in public and 19.3±2.1years in private university. 53% of public university students and 30% of private university students have had sexual intercourse. While 41.3% of public university students were aware of LARC, 37.1% of the private university students were aware. The knowledge of LARC among the public university students was lower (23.6%) as compared to those in private university (33.3%). We conclude that while sexual exposure is higher among public university students than in private, the awareness of LARC was higher in public than private universities. Continuous campaign programmes to university students on the benefit of LARC is recommended.

Sexual Debut, Sexual Education, Abortion, Awareness and Prevalence of Contraceptive Among Female Undergraduates Students in Public and Private Universities in Ekiti State, Nigeria.

Introduction Of the 182 million annual pregnancies in developing countries, 76 million are unintended and 66% of these are among non-users of contraception. Unintended pregnancy is a risk factor for abortion, disruption of education, future unemployment, and poor socio-economic status. This study aimed to determine the age of sexual debut, sexual education, abortion, awareness, and prevalence of contraceptives among female undergraduate students in public and private universities in Ekiti State. Methods A comparative cross-sectional study was carried out among 418 [public (208) and private (210)] female university undergraduate students in Ekiti State using a multi-stage sampling technique. Data was gathered using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS (IBM Corp. Released 2015. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp). Chi-square was used to assess the association between dependent and independent variables at the bivariate level of analysis. P-value<0.05 was taken as significant. Results The mean age of respondents was 21.1±2.5 years in the public univeristy and 19.3±2.1 years in the private university. About 53.8% of students in the public university have been engaged in sexual intercourse as against 30% of students in the private university. The mean age at first sexual debut was lower in the public university (14.2±4.1 years) than in the private university (16.9±3.3 years) while more public university students (87.5%) had access to sexual education than their counterparts at the private university (79.0%). Of those who had ever been pregnant in public university (18.8%), about four-fifth (81.1%) of them had an abortion while all those who ever got pregnant (15.9%) in private university had an abortion. All the respondents in both universities were aware of contraception with the majority getting to know through social media. The prevalence of contraceptive use was lower among public university students (39.3%) than those in the private university (60.3%). Conclusion Mean age at sexual debut and rate of abortion were lower in public university students than in private. While access to sexual education was higher in the public university than in the private university, the prevalence of contraceptive use was lower in the public university. Therefore it is recommended that the government and other relevant stakeholders need to institute continuous awareness campaign programs to increase contraception uptake and reduce the prevalence and effect of unwanted pregnancy as a result of unprotected sexual activities.

Barriers to Contraceptive Uptake among Women of Reproductive Age in a Semi-Urban Community of Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Globally, unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) persist as a significant threat to women's reproductive health. In Nigeria, despite huge resources committed to family planning programs by stakeholders, contraceptive use has been very low. This study aimed at unraveling the barriers to the use of modern contraceptives among women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in Ise-Ekiti community, Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria. METHODS: This study was a cross sectional study among women aged 15-49 years. A multi-stage sampling technique was used in the recruitment of respondents from the community. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 15. RESULTS: Although contraceptive awareness among respondents was high 496(98.6%), only 254 of the 503 respondents were using modern contraceptive methods giving a Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) of 50.5%. Among those not using any form of contraceptives, some identifiable barriers to contraceptive use includes desire for more children, 62(39.5%), partner disapproval, 40(25.5%), and fear of side-effects, 23(14.6%). Factors associated with contraceptive uptake include marital status (p=0.028), educational level (p=0.041) and religion (p=0.043) with traditional worshippers having the least uptake. CONCLUSION: This study showed that awareness to modern forms of contraceptives does translate into use. The identified barriers to contraceptive uptake suggest the need to improve uptake of contraceptives through a community-based and culturally acceptable intervention as doing this will go a long way in addressing some of these barriers.