KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS OF AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA, NIGERIA
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Date
2011-01-07
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Ahmadu Bello University Zaria
Abstract
The persistently high incidence of premarital unprotected sexual activity, poor
condom use, rape, and induced abortion among young women in Nigerian universities
calls for exploration of emergency contraception for prevention of unwanted pregnancy.
The descriptive study was conducted among female undergraduate student of Ahmadu
Bello University, Zaria-Nigeria.A total of 194 female undergraduates of Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria selected by simple random sampling were
surveyed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of emergency contraception.
About 53% of the respondents were sexually active. A total of 138 (74.6%) of
respondents were aware of emergency contraception and about 85% of the sexually
active had used it previously. The level of awareness was better among those in higher
level of study. Majority 96.4% of the respondents who knew about emergency
contraceptive pills identified the correct timing of administration for maximal efficacy.
Most of the respondents cited friends (64.1%) and health care providers (15.1%) as their
main sources of knowledge, while 3.7%, 4.4% and 1.3% of the respondents got the
information through parents/relations, TV and radio respectively. Concern of
encouragement of promiscuity (56.6%), and side effects (22.8%) ranked high among
reasons for disapproval of deregulation of sale and promotion of emergency
contraception.