THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CONTRACEPTIVE USE AND WOMEN’S HEALTH IN NIGERIA: BASIC FACTORS FOR MORTALITY AND MORBIDITY CHANGES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The article made use of existing literatures to discuss women’s health in Nigeria in relation to contraceptive use. It deliberates whether the distinctive concepts of women’s health are attended to hence they are useful in explaining the cause of increase and decrease in mortality and morbidity rates among women in Nigeria. The concepts are first clarified and delimited, both in relation to each other and to some other closely related concepts. The usefulness of the concepts is then discussed on the basis of how it affects woman in rural and urban area of Nigeria, especially women of childbearing age. These suggest the need to create awareness on the use of appropriate contraceptives in Nigeria and elsewhere in order to avoid the unnecessary casualties that emanate from the uncoordinated use of contraceptives. The awareness is important in order to prevent women from having unwanted pregnancies and protect them from Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STDs) which can lead them to untimely death. Social workers should drive the awareness to both rural and urban areas through the use of health promotion and other community health development strategies. Governments should also make laws that will protect women from men in relation to their sexual health rights in order to curb unwanted pregnancies which could be detrimental to their health.