Towards Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence in Reproductive Health Information Access Among In-School Adolescent Girls: Impact on Policy and Practice

Abstract

All young people have the right to access comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information. However, most adolescent girls in developing countries face sexuality without adequate information. This is due to the unwritten but active traditional norm against the discussion of sex and sexuality issues with young people. This article reports a descriptive study that investigated the adolescent girls’ degree of access to reproductive health information and the barriers to accessing reproductive health information. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 18 schools, three from each of the six Local Education Districts (LEDs) in Lagos State. The study sample consisted of 1800 girls in the selected schools. Data were collected with a questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The result of the study revealed that in-school adolescent girls had limited access to reproductive health information. The findings also showed that lack of time to seek relevant information and unwillingness of parents to discuss reproductive health issues with the adolescents were major obstacles to reproductive health information access. The test of significance of relationship between access to reproductive health information and attitude towards reproductive health issues indicated significant positive relationship between access to reproductive health information and attitude towards reproductive health issues. The study concluded that access to reproductive health information exerts great influence on attitude towards reproductive health issues. The article recommends the adoption of multimedia approach for the dissemination of reproductive health information in public schools in Lagos State.

KEYWORDS:

• adolescent girls
• Lagos State
• reproductive health information
• reproductive health issues