Adolescents in Nigeria are at risk of plethora of ills arising from risky sexual behavior in the form of multiple sexual partnerships (MSP). Despite evidence linking MSPs to age at sexual debut, there is a dearth of research among adolescents and the mediating role of the knowledge of STIs has been ignored. Hence, we examined the association between age at sexual debut and MSP and the mediating role of the knowledge of STIs in the relationship among adolescents. We utilized data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (n = 3215), employing Chi square test of association and binary logistic regression to address the study objectives. We established strong inverse relationship between age at sexual debut and MSP among adolescents in Nigeria and additionally, found that its interaction with knowledge of HIV and STIs significantly reduced adolescents’ engagement in MSP, i.e., adolescents who first had sex in later years (15+ years) were significantly less likely to have multiple sexual partners compared to adolescents who had early sexual debut (≤14 years). Early, age-appropriate, continuous, and improved awareness campaigns and reproductive health services and interventions for this population subgroup are recommended.
There has been a divergence in the pace of fertility decline between the Muslim-dominated countries of Maghreb and those of Middle/West Africa (despite having similar religious beliefs, which studies have implicated as a major determinant of fertility behaviours). While the Maghreb countries have total fertility rate ranging between 2 and 3, it ranges between 6 and 7 in Muslim-majority countries of Middle/West Africa. Factors other than religion seem to be responsible for this divergent pattern. Evidence is sparse on this. This paper provides empirical evidence on factors influencing divergent pattern in fertility levels of selected Muslimdominated countries of Maghreb and Middle/West Africa. Based on availability of recent data, this paper drew on Demographic and Health Survey data of three Middle/West Africa countries-Mali (2013-14), Niger (2012) and Northern Nigeria (2013); and two North African countries-Egypt (2014) and Morocco (2003-04). Relationships were explored using Poisson regression models that adjusted for religion and women characteristics. Findings showed that age at first marriage, age at first birth, contraceptive use, child mortality, plurality of marriage and women education are the major drivers of divergence in fertility patterns of the selected countries in both sub-regions. Differences in proximate determinants of fertility ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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