Unmet need for contraception among students in Abidjan

Abstract

Context: Contraceptive use rates among students are low. Objective: To present the unmet need for contraception among Ivorian female students. Method: This was a cross-sectional study that took place from December 2019 to May 2020 in three private university establishments in one of the communes of Abidjan. All female students of Brevet de Technicien Supérieur 1 and 2 of the said schools with or without contraception, having given their agreement after informed consent were recruited. All female students of childbearing age who voluntarily agreed to answer the questionnaire were included. The results were analysed using the chi-square test. Results: 99.73% of the respondents had heard of contraception before. The source of information on contraception for 70.74% of the respondents was school. In 42.02% of cases, respondents had not used contraception. Fear of side effects was the reason for not using contraception in 40.51% of the respondents. Condoms were the contraceptive method used by 31.38% of respondents. Having a child, sexual activity, previous or current sexual partners, protected sex, a history of STIs and friends as a source of information on contraception were the factors significantly associated with the use of contraception.
Conclusion: The need for contraceptives among adolescents exists but encounters obstacles related to the fear of side effects and the religious barrier. Increasing contraceptive prevalence would help reduce the rate of pregnancies in schools and students.