Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards Contraceptives Among Secondary School Students

The idea of sex and contraceptives among secondary school students in Nigeria has become an issue of growing concern.  In the past, sex and contraceptives used to be a thing for only married couples.   This primary knowledge has guided some people to believing that secondary school student do not have sex and at such need no contraceptive.  This kind of belief may not be correct.   Due to urbanization, modernization, industrialization, and the wide spread use of social media around the world, Nigerian parents cannot continue to assume that teenagers do not have sex.  This is because it has been reported that many young people become sexually active at an early age when most of them have no knowledge of reproductive health (Reina et al 2010). 

Biology makes us to understand that as a child begins to experience puberty, the development of sexual hormones arises within the body and this feature in areas of development of the breast, menstruation among females and enlargement of the primary sexual organ in both sexes.  This development now occurs early than usual in teenagers and this has far reaching implications on them (Ekuri et al 2014).  This development may serve as driving force for them to engage in sexual activities and attracting force for others to want to have sex with them (Mfammed and Mfammed, 2005).

Sex among teenagers is very common.  Reports from media have shown that though teenagers get sexually active within the age range of 15-19 (Osinusi 2011), most of them start having sex as a result of peer influence and mass media which are the basic forms of socialization in the world today (Okojie 2011).  When they eventually go into sex, 40% of them especially during their first time have little knowledge about contraceptives and this might expose them to Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), unwanted pregnancies, and induced abortion which could result to teenage maternal death (Idonije 2011).  Globally, more than 70% of teenagers within the age of 15-19 experience unwanted pregnancies and this is due to insufficient knowledge about contraceptives (WHO 2007).  This has several social implications on teenagers such as disruption of education, stigmatization, and poor health conditions.  

Generally speaking, the use of contraceptives all over the world prevents more than 200million unintended pregnancies every year (Stover and Ross 2010).  Also, UNICEF (2008) estimates that if contraceptives are used each day, it can prevent over 500,000 teenagers from getting infected with STIs.  WHO (2007) also estimates that if contraceptives are well used among teenagers, it can prevent over 4.4 million abortions each year thus saving lives.  

Despite the fact that most religion forbids fornication especially among young people, most teenagers still enjoy having sex because of the pleasure derived from it.  Since the involvement in sexual activity is on the increase, sociologists and other health social scientists are faced with the responsibility of testing the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of contraceptives among teenagers.  The essence is to examine the knowledge of contraceptives and use, and recommend possible means to improve knowledge and use of contraceptives in order to prevent teenage pregnancies, induced abortion and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

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