NURHI Phase 1 (2009 – 2015)
Phase 1 of NURHI was implemented in six cities (Federal Capital Territory, Ibadan, Ilorin, Kaduna, Benin and Zaria). According to the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, it contributed to significant increases in contraceptive prevalence in these cities.
NURHI Phase 1 (2009 – 2015)
Phase 1 of NURHI was implemented in six cities (Federal Capital Territory, Ibadan, Ilorin, Kaduna, Benin and Zaria).According to the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, it contributed to significant increases in contraceptive prevalence in these cities.
Oyo State
Oyo State lies in the Southwest corner of Nigeria. It is the fourth most populated State in Nigeria with a total population of 7,840,864 according to the 2006 National Population and Housing Census (NPC). With 33 Local Government Areas, Oyo State is primarily agricultural. Ibadan is the capital and most populous city in the State. With a population of approximately 6 million, Ibadan is Nigeria’s third most populous city.
In terms of culture and religion, Oyo State is mainly inhabited by the Yoruba ethnic group who are primarily agrarian. Most of the population are Muslim (60.4%); the second most commonly practiced religion is Christianity (39.6%) (2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey).
According to the 2015 Monitoring Learning and Evaluation Cross-sectional Survey, 33.3% of married women in Oyo State were using a modern method, and 11.4% were using traditional methods of contraception, including rhythm method, withdrawal and standard days method.
A 2016 secondary analysis of the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey findings from Oyo State conducted by Prof. Stella Babalola and Mr. Akin Akiode identified the following key drivers to increased contraceptive uptake in the State:
- Family planning programs need to explore the use of other traditional avenues for reaching the approximately one third of women with no access to media. This group are mostly illiterate, non-family planning users, Muslim, and reside in rural areas. Working with religious institutions and other health facility-based services as well as cultural ceremonies may be promising options.
- Knowledge of some family planning methods such as female condoms and implants were poor. Thus, efforts need to focus on creating greater recognition of these methods to increase contraceptive uptake.
- Interventions need to intentionally target women who intend to practice contraception in future as they are closest to using contraceptives. These women have at least secondary education, and are more likely to be Muslims, live in urban areas, and listen to radio frequently.
- The majority of modern method users in Oyo State source their contraceptives from non-clinical providers (43.5%) such as patent and proprietary medical vendors, followed by government hospitals (37.6%). This calls for a deliberate effort to target non-clinical outlets for quality improvement, expanded method mix, and referrals for long-acting reversible methods.
- A reasonable proportion of women in Oyo state who are not using any family planning method either want to space or want to limit the number of children they have. Family planning programs need to see this category of women as “low hanging fruit” and when targeted with the right information and services, can be easily converted to users.