Analysis of Women's Reproductive Health Situation in Bida Emirate of Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the reproductive health situation in Bida Emirate of Nigeria, with a view to advancing frontiers in communication support for reproductive health education. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to randomly select 1,200 women respondents that participated in the study. Data was obtained on reproductive health and rights, reproductive health history, and personal and social characteristics of respondents. Data analyses showed that majority (68.1%) of respondents were aware of existing methods of birth control, while 31.9% were not. On the use of methods, abstinence, breastfeeding and use of condoms recorded 42.8%, 22% and 40.3% respectively. Respondents rarely used traditional methods of birth control. Forty five per cent blamed their husbands for not using family planning methods. Surprisingly, 84.8% of respondents had no idea of what HIV/AIDS is all about; only 13% and 3.1% could describe gonorrhoea and AIDS respectively. Results further revealed that there is no significant relationship between personal and social characteristics of respondents (religion, marital status and position, etc) and their attitude towards family planning. However, rural and urban women significantly differed in their health status (t = 0.2729; p < 0.001). Similar trend was observed for attitude towards family decision-making (t = 40; p < 0.001), sexuality and STD prevention (t = 90; p < 0.001), and maternity/childcare (t = 0.001; p < 0.001). In conclusion, the study reveals that there is a wide gap between social expectations of women's reproductive health and cultural realities in Nupeland of Nigeria. The study thus recommends, among others, the need for sustainable safe motherhood campaign in culture bound societies.

Men's Perception of Maternal Mortality in Nigeria

“…Maternal mortality is a human rights issue. Culturally, women are still generally undervalued and this confirms earlier findings (6). A general improvement in the socio-economic milieu and education of women will help improve the standard of living and further promote women's rights.…”

“…In Nigeria, where culture has been shown to be an important factor in relation to women's access to available reproductive health facilities, little data exist on men's views with regard to maternal deaths (6,7). This study was conducted to assess what men know and to better understand their attitudes toward maternal mortality.…”

The impact of health education on reproductive health knowledge among adolescents in a rural Nigerian community

“…are been called upon to improve knowledge about adolescent reproductive health. While the adolescents in the urban areas may have access to some information on reproductive health, the same may not be true for the adolescents in the rural communities, where it is a taboo to discuss or ask questions on such issues because of the wide difference between societal expectation of women's reproductive health and cultural realities (Yahaya 2002). The implications are complications, such as infections, disability and even deaths (Izugbara 2001) because of misinformation and inadequate knowledge of reproductive health problems.…”

HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes among West African immigrant women in Western Australia

“…For example, in a survey of 1200 women of reproductive age in Bida Emirate of Niger State, Nigeria, only 15% were able to describe HIV/AIDS as a deadly disease (8). Over 90% of these women had no or only rudimentary levels of education.…”