Geo-spatial Analysis of Adolescents’ Access to and Use of Contraceptives in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Against the background of high and progressively increasing unprotected sexual activities among adolescents generally, this study analyzes the spatial pattern of adolescents’ access to and use of contraceptives in Osun State, Nigeria. It analyses inter and intra-city variations in the distribution of contraceptive outlets and varying levels of access and use of contraceptives by adolescents. Also factors that affect access to and use of contraceptives are analyzed. Primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data involved the use of handheld GPS to obtain the geographic coordinates of the contraceptive outlets and those of secondary schools. Secondary data include the analogue map of the State collected from the State’s Ministry of Land and Physical Planning, the list of all registered pharmacies in the study area from the State’s Ministry of Health. Also, a total of 1,440 questionnaires were administered to randomly selected adolescents to collect data on the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, degree of access to contraceptives, and varying types and levels of use of contraceptives. Variation in the distribution of outlets and adolescents’ use of contraceptive was analyzed using GIS tools. The patterns of outlets and secondary schools were mapped. The results showed that there was concentration of contraceptive outlets in the high density residential areas (60%) than in the medium (30%) or low (10%) density residential areas and that with Rn Values of 0.86 and 1.48 respectively for Outlets and schools, there was no spatial causation between pattern of outlets and distribution of schools. Forty-four per cent of adolescents claimed use of contraceptive devices, while 56% did not. Fifty percent of the adolescents stated that societal disapproval is a factor that hinders their use of contraceptives. Further result showed that there was a direct but weak relationship (r = 0.449; p = 0.561) between the pattern of outlets and use of contraceptive in the study area. The study concluded that to reduce the problems associated with adolescents’ reproductive health, there is the need to improve access and right usage of contraceptives