Abstract

Adolescents face a lot of developmental challenges; early unintended pregnancies, septic abortions, Sexually Transmitted Infections, yet have limited access to contraception services due to inadequate education, with an estimated 47% contraceptive use.

The objective was to assess the educational needs on the usage of contraceptives among adolescents of Mamfe Health District of the South West Region-Cameroon.

A cross sectional study in three health areas using a convenient sampling method. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data on contraceptive usage, knowledge, challenges and appropriate strategies to improve on contraceptives use among adolescents. Statistical analysis was done in SPSS software version 25 through binary regression using odd ratio to test for association between variables.

The results revealed that 350 participants with a mean age of 17.11±1.79 years were recruited. 44.9% of respondents were into sexual relationships with contraception utilization rate of 35.7%. Knowledge on contraception was inadequate.

However, there was no association between knowledge on how a woman gets pregnant and contraceptive use (AOR=1.66 CI: 0.942-2.921 P=0.08) with the male condom being the most known contraception method. The main obstacle was lack of communication on contraception between partners (AOR=2.88 CI: 1.707-4.869, P<0.0001). Sex education should start at lower secondary with the use of contraceptive devices to enhance understanding.

Contraceptive usage is higher than reported by the district with inadequate knowledge and perceived challenges. Intervention programs with a focus on building the perception and communication skills of adolescents and their parents are imperative.

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