Use of combined oral contraceptive pills among teenage girls in Calabar, Nigeria

Christopher U Iklaki,¹ John E Inaku,² John E Ekabua,¹ Patience O Odusolu,¹ Charles O Njoku<sup>1

1</sup>Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria; ²Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract: The objective of this study was to find out about the use of combined oral contraceptive pills by women in Calabar, Nigeria, with a particular interest in single nulliparous teenage women. During the period from 2006 to 2010, a total of 1980 women seen in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital's family planning unit used various methods of contraception. Of these, 316 (15.96%) used combined oral contraceptive pills. Twenty girls aged between 13 and 19 years accounted for 6.3% of those who used combined oral contraceptive pills. There were 296 (93.6%) women between the ages of 20 and 34 years who accounted for the remaining users. Of these women, 195 (61.5%) were educated to the secondary level, and 34 (10.8%) were educated to primary level. No women without formal education used combined oral contraceptive pills during the period of study. The majority of the users were nulliparous (128; 40.4%); the rest had parity values of at least one to more than four. One hundred thirty-seven (43.4%) of the users were single, 112 (35.4%) were married, and the remaining 67 (21.1%) were separated, divorced, or widowed. There is a growing need to educate young Nigerian women about the use of combined oral contraceptive pills; this medication is suitable and effective for most young women, and it also has additional noncontraceptive health benefits.

Keywords: combined, oral, contraception, pills