Background The persistently high prevalence of girl-child marriage remains a public health and developmental concern in Nigeria. Despite global campaign against the practice and policy efforts by Nigerian government, the prevalence remains unabated. This study investigates the prevalence and the influence of ethnicity and religious affiliation on the girl-child marriage among female adolescents in Nigeria. Methods Data of 7804 girls aged 15–19 years extracted from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey were used. Ethnic groups were classified into five: major Northern ethnic group (Hausa/Fulani); Northern ethnic minorities; two major Southern ethnic groups (Yoruba and Igbo), and Southern ethnic minorities. The prevalence of girl-child marriage was determined for the five ethnic groups and individually for each ethnic minority group. Relationships between ethnicity and religious affiliation on girl-child marriage were explored using Cox proportional hazard regression models, adjusting for residence, education and wealth quintile. Results Child marriage was higher for the Northern majority ethnic group of Hausa/Fulani (54.8%) compared to the two major Southern ethnic groups (3.0–3.6%) and aggregated Northern ethnic minorities (25.7%) and Southern minorities (5.9%). However, overall, the less known Northern ethnic minority groups of Kambari (74.9%) and Fulfude (73.8%) recorded the highest prevalence. Compared to the major Southern ethnic group of Yoruba, the adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) of child marriage was significantly higher for Northern ethnic minorities (AHR = 2.50; 95% C.I. = 1.59–3.95) and Northern major ethnicity (AHR = 3.67, 95% C.I. = 2.33–5.77). No significant difference was recorded among Southern ethnic groups. Girls affiliated to other religions (Muslim and traditionalist) had higher child-marriage risks compared to Christians (AHR = 2.10; 95% C.I. = 1.54–2.86). Conclusion Ethnicity and religion have independent associations with girl-child marriage in Nigeria; interventions must address culturally-laden social norms that vary by ethnic groups as well as religious-related beliefs.

Context Nigeria is a high-burden country in terms of young people’s health. Understanding changes in young people’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH) behaviours and the associated factors is important for framing appropriate interventions. Objective This study assessed changes in SRH behaviours of unmarried young people aged 15–24 and associated factors over a ten-year period in Nigeria. Data and method We analysed datasets from Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys of 2008, 2013 and 2018 to assess changes in inconsistent condom use, non-use of modern contraceptives; multiple sexual partnership; and early sexual debut. Using binary logistic regression, we assessed the association of selected variables with the SRH behaviours. Results Over four-fifths of unmarried young people (15–24) in Nigeria engaged in at least one risky sexual behaviour in each survey year. The pattern of changes in the four risky SRH behaviours was consistent over the 10-year period, with the highest rates of each behaviour occurring in 2018 while the lowest rates were in 2013, thus indicating an increase in the proportion of respondents engaging in risky sexual behaviours over the study period. Comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge, male gender, older age category (20–24), residence in south-west Nigeria, urban residence, higher socio-economic status, secondary/higher education were mostly protective against the four SRH variables analysed across the different data waves. Conclusion Addressing the high and increasing level of risky SRH behaviours among young people in Nigeria is imperative to improve overall national health status and to ensure progress towards achieving SDG target 3.7 focusing on SRH.

Old-age needs are multifaceted and require multiple support sources, yet caregiving roles for older Nigerians are largely shifted to adult children. However, the children also declining capacity to respond. The extent to which older adults access support from other sources remains under-researched. This study investigates the patterns and determinants of access to complementary supports among older adults in South-Western Nigeria, taking Oyo State as the case study. The study is cross-sectional and utilized primary data of 827 older adults aged ≥ 65 years selected using a multi-stage sampling design. Box plot was used to determine the patterns while multiple ordinary least square regression was used to predict the determinants of access to complementary support. Expressed in percentage, the median complementary support score of older adults in Oyo State was 30 (interquartile range [IQR] = 24) with a slightly higher score for men (median = 32, IQR = 24) compared to women (median = 28, IQR = 20). Access to complementary support was lower for the widow(er)s, the lower socioeconomic group and self-dependent older adults across genders, and for urban women with secondary/higher education compared to the otherwise groups. Increased access to complementary support was significantly associated with primary/no education (β = 4.365; p < 0.01 95% C.I. = 1.511–7.218), affiliation to Islamic/Traditional religion (β = 5.100; p < 0.001; 95% C.I. = 3.000–7.200), rich wealth status (β = 3.315; p < 0.05; 95% C.I. = 0.667–5.963) and depending on both self and children/family for income (β = 5.510; p < 0.05; 95% C.I. = 1.710–9.309) with some gender disparities. However, reduced complementary support was associated with ages 80 years or over (β = -3.649; p < 0.05; 95% C.I. = -6.460 – -0.838) and widowhood (β = -6.285; p < 0.001; 95% C.I. = -8.556 – -4.015). The study suggests the need for welfare plans among professional, social, and religious groups, institutionalised social support systems, and community engagement to escalate welfare support for older adults. It also recommends intensified attention on the more vulnerable groups, especially the widows, childless and lower socioeconomic groups.

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Background: West Africa historically has a high prevalence of girl-child marriage and requires substantial reduction to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target of ending child marriage by 2030, but current data on progress is sparce. We aimed to determine the trend in child marriage in West Africa and assess the influence of selected socio-demographic factors. Methods: We analysed data on women aged 18-24 years from the two most recent Demographic and Health Surveys (conducted between 2006 and 2014) for 11 West African countries to determine the prevalence and trend of girl-child marriage. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between girl-child marriage and selected socio-demographic factors. Results: The prevalence of child marriage in West Africa is 41.5%. An overall decrease of 4.6% (annual rate of 0.01%) was recorded over a seven-year inter-survey period. Three countries (Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Niger) recorded increased prevalence while the rate was unchanged in Burkina Faso, and the other six countries had reduced prevalence between the last two surveys. Sierra Leone recorded the highest decrease in prevalence (22%) and an annual reduction rate of 0.04%; Cote d’Ivore had the highest increase (65.3%). In virtually all countries, rural residence, low education, poor household economic status and non-Christian religious affiliation were significantly associated with higher odds of girl-child marriage. Conclusions: The prevalence of girl-child marriage remains high in West Africa and the trend shows very slow progress. While substantial inter-country variations exist in overall rate and trend of child marriage, the rate of progress is inadequate across all countries.

Inequalities in health care utilisation and outcomes vary significantly across geographies. Though available evidence suggests disparity in contraceptive uptake in favour of urban compared with rural geographies, there are unassessed nuances among women in urban communities. This study examines some of these disparities within the context of socioeconomic deprivations and family planning utilisation among urban women in West Africa. A secondary analysis of the most recent Demographic and Health Survey dataset of five selected West African countries was conducted, using pooled data of 21,641 women aged 15–49 years. Associations between family planning utilisation and women's deprivation status were investigated using a binary logistic regression model. The findings show that more than one-quarter of the women were severely deprived across the countries except Senegal (17.4%), and the severely deprived consistently have relatively low contraceptive prevalence rates (CPR) (16.0–24.3%) compared with women with no/low deprivation across the countries except Senegal (39.8%). The results for long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) were not consistent across the five countries: whereas, LARC utilisation was lower among severely deprived women in Nigeria (9.1%), Guinea (9.6%), and Mali (19.3%), utilisation was similar across the deprivation groups in Benin and Senegal. In the multivariable analyses, the log-odds of modern contraceptive utilisation decreases by 0.27 among the moderately deprived (ß = −0.27, SE = 0.05, p &lt; 0.01) and by 0.75 among the severely deprived women (ß = −0.75, SE = 0.05, p &lt; 0.01) compared with those with no/low deprivation, with variations across the countries. Similarly, the log-odds of LARC utilisation decreases by 0.44–0.72 among the severely deprived women compared with those with no/low deprivation across the countries except Senegal. This study concluded that family planning intervention programmes and policies need to underscore the deprivation context of urban geographies, particularly among women living in informal settlements.

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