Public Health and Nutrition

Biography

Biography: Sampson Ezikeanyi

Abstract

Approximately 1.8 billion of the world’s population of 7.3 billion are young people. This includes 900 million vulnerable adolescent girls and young women and is expected to grow to 2 billion young people by 2050. In Nigeria, adolescents constitute 31.7% of the population with nearly equal population of males (50.1%) and females (49.9%) (NPoC, 2006). Nigeria has a youthful population where 44.5% are less than 15 years of age; 16.4% are young people aged 15-24 years; 49% are 10-24 years while 14% are aged 25-34 years (NDHS, 2008). Also, 15.3% of young women become sexually active at the age of 15 years in Nigeria. This is far from 68% of the same group in Akwa-Ibom state. The adolescent birth rate in Nigeria is 89/1,000 and early child bearing of 28.6% (GPRHCS, 2012). NARHS 2010 report showed a National HIV prevalence of 4.1% and Akwa-Ibom with 10.9%; rural prevalence of 11.1%. An estimated 42 million induced abortion each year globally, 20 million are done in an unsafe condition with 47,000 deaths of girls and women (WHO). About 760,000 abortions are performed in Nigeria annually and 14% of all unsafe abortions occur in adolescents below 20 years of age. Main question/hypothesis Our review question was to explore the extent to which the sources of family planning information and the sources of family planning service impact on the utilization of the family planning services among adolescents and youth in Akwa-Ibom state of Nigeria. What are the available sources of family planning information and services? What are the preferences of adolescents and young people for sources of family planning information and services? What are the trends and determinants of utilization among the youths in Akwa-Ibom state. Methodology The literature and program review took place in Akwa-Ibom state located in south-south oil rich area of Nigeria with an estimated 2015 total population of 5,272,029 where over 70% of the people live in rural areas. The young people aged 10-24 including adolescents constitute 31% of this total population of Akwa-Ibom (MOEP, 2014). Using the service delivery data gotten from the SDPs in the 31 LGAs, initial primary analysis and validation was done in the states. The authors then performed a detailed program review. The main sources of data for the literature review were the state statistical year book; the serial editions of NDHS, MICS, NARHS plus, GPRHCS survey, published research articles and institutional databases also searched using Google search and HINARI. Data was captured and analyzed using Ms Excel.