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. 2015 Sep;49(3):187-94.
doi: 10.4314/gmj.v49i3.10.

Prevalence and Determinants of Unintended Pregnancy Among Women in South-Western Nigeria

M A Lamina  1
Affiliations

Prevalence and Determinants of Unintended Pregnancy Among Women in South-Western Nigeria

M A Lamina. Ghana Med J. 2015 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: To study the prevalence of unwanted pregnancy in urban and rural settlements in Southwestern Nigeria.

Design: A prospective cross-sectional study of women within reproductive age.

Setting: Community-based study of unwanted pregnancy was conducted in 2012.

Participants: They were women of reproductive age who had experienced unintended and/or unwanted pregnancies and they were randomly selected from rural and urban areas of Ogun state in Nigeria.

Intervention: A semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection.

Main outcome measure: The prevalence of unintended/unwanted pregnancy, associated factors including the views, perception and attitudes of community members in both urban and rural settlements and the pattern of help-seeking behavior on the problem.

Results: The age range of respondents was 15-48 years (mean age 31.2± 6.7 years). One thousand, two hundred and twenty-one (51.6%) of the respondents were married. The percentage of illiterate respondents was 3.5% in urban area and 4.1% in rural area. There was a statistically significant association between level of education and use of a method to avoid or delay pregnancy (p < 0.001). The prevalence of unintended pregnancy was 35.9% while that of induced abortion was 33.5%. Quality of service was the most important factor in the choice of a place for pregnancy termination in urban and rural areas. Economic reasons were often cited as reasons women make use of abortion services.

Conclusion: Unwanted pregnancy constitutes a problem, even at the community level. The high contraceptive awareness should be translated to an increased use so as to bridge the large gap of unmet need.

Keywords: Nigeria; Unintended pregnancy; contraception; determinants; induced abortion; rural area; urban area.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared

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