Awareness on the availability of legal safe abortions among female adolescents attending secondary school in Ndola district, Zambia
Journal Title: Asian Pacific Journal of Health Sciences - Year 2016, Vol 3, Issue 4
Abstract
Background:Illegal unsafe induced abortion is a public health problem in Zambia. Statistics reveal an extremely high induced abortion mortality ratio of 120 induced abortion-related deaths per 100 000 live births and more than half of these deaths are among schoolgirls. Although abortion in Zambia is legal on medical and social grounds, most women in Zambia resort to illegal abortions because legal abortion services are inaccessible, unacceptable and for others, lack of knowledge of the provision of such facilities at health institutions. This study sought to determine the level of awareness of the legality of clinical abortions among the schoolgirls. Method:The design was a cross-sectional study. A total of 367 pupils were randomly selected from grade 10 to grade 12 classes available for each school. SPSS for windows version 16 was used to enter and analyze data. The Chi squared test was used to determine associations between categorical variables. Cut off point for statistical significance was set at 5%.Results:A response rate of 94.3% (346/367) was achieved. Overall 301 (87.0%) out of 346 participants were not aware of the provisions of the law on termination of pregnancy. Most of the participants reported knowing people who aborted by wrong methods and done by untrained people 320 (92.5%), in wrong places 292 (84.4%)and yet most (82.1%) of them were aware of complications and negative attitudes to its legalization. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that most female adolescents were not aware of the provisions of the law on termination of pregnancy.Hence,the need for health education on the provisions of the law and making the service accessible for schoolgirls.
Authors and Affiliations
Halwiindi Trevor
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP524461
- DOI 10.21276/apjhs.2016.3.4.2
- Views 176
- Downloads 0
Buccal fat pad graft in oral and maxillofacial surgery-A review
Buccal fat pad is much underutilized graft in oral and maxillofacial surgeries. Although, it has been recognized in early seventeenth century, but its use in different conditions as a graft was popularized after mid eigh...
Our experience with CEA in the management of colorectal cancer – a prospective study
Introduction : In India, colorectal cancer is the 6th most prevalent cancer and population based time trend studies show a rising trend in its incidence. CEA is expressed in significant amounts post-natally by the carcin...
Correlation of dental anxiety with oral health status among 12-15 year adolescents
Background:. Dental anxiety is considered to be the main reason for behavior management problems and avoiding dental care resulting in lack of regular dental care and delay in necessary treatments. Materials and method:....
Pattern of comorbidities in psoriasis patients from western India and the relation between disease severity and systemic comoridities: cross sectional study at a tertiary care centre
Background: Various studies have shown association of much physical and psychosocial comorbidity with psoriasis. Aims & Objectives: To note pattern of various comorbidities in psoriasis patients and the association of sy...
Are nurses creative?
Creativity is the ability to imagine something that is not exist, to do something different from others, and to develop new ideas. In other words, creativity is to see something as everyone sees it and to think about dif...