Adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health education: perspectives from secondary school teachers in Northern Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Lack of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education contributes to poor SRH outcomes for adolescents and young people in Sub-Saharan Africa. School-based comprehensive SRH education programmes in low- and middle-income countries aim to advance gender equality and human rights and reduce risky sexual behaviours in adolescents. However, the implementation of these programmes in Northern Nigeria is opposed by community and religious institutions because of mistrust of health interventions perceived as being framed on Western ideologies. This study explored perceptions of such programmes among secondary school staff in Northern Nigeria. We focused on knowledge and beliefs about comprehensive SRH education programmes, and views about barriers to delivery and ways to support their inclusion in schools. Sixteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with teachers and head teachers. Participants were aged 33–54 years and came from four public secondary schools in two states (Kano and Jigawa). Findings showed conflicting gender-based perspectives on the importance of comprehensive SRH education in schools. Barriers to delivery included lack of adequate skills and knowledge, beliefs/cultural norms and wider societal barriers. Involving traditional and religious leaders and schools in the design of tailored approaches could strengthen future delivery.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent health
• comprehensive sexual and reproductive health
• sexuality education
• barriers
• beliefs
• Nigeria

Acknowledgments

Thanks go to Ifeoma Dan-Ogosi for support with proofreading the manuscript and to Maryam Ahmad Abubakar (MAA) and Isah Musa for assistance with data collection and interpretation. We thank the reviewers for useful feedback, which helped improve the quality of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the present study are not publicly available because of the need for confidentiality and anonymity and the sensitive nature of the data. Some data may be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by QR-GCRF pump-prime funding from the University of Hull, UK. The funding body had no role in the design of the study or collection, analysis and interpretation of data, or the preparation of this manuscript.