Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris
disclosed on Thursday that 24.2 percent of women in the state have their first
sexual intercourse before attaining the age of 18 years.
Dr. Jide Idris disclosed this while delivering a lecture at
the first Lecture Series of Inspiration FM which held at the Nigerian Institute
of International Affairs, NIIA, Victoria Island, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
The commissioner was speaking on “Reproductive Health:
Beyond Cultural Limitations and Concerns,” when he revealed that the National
Demographic and Health Survey and the Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey reported
that 24.2 percent of women in Lagos had their first sexual intercourse before
attaining the age of 18 years.
In his words:
Nationally, the figures are about 51 percent. This implies
that in Lagos, one out of every four women would have been exposed to cex
before 18 and the national average for Nigeria is one of two women. The
difference in these figures might be attributed to several factors, such as
female education, urbanization, childhood marriages and so more.
“With an average age at first birth at 20 years, about 22.5
percent of pregnancies are by teenagers in Nigeria. More worrying, however, is
that reports show that as at this year, about 40 percent of women in the
Southwest have experienced physical violence since age 15 and sexual violence
cannot be excluded from these statistics,” he stated.
“In other words, in a nation where more than 60 percent of
its population are young people and significant numbers of these young people
are exposed to sexual intercourse at an early age either voluntarily or
violently, a lot of potential problems emerge. Such problems are associated
with sexually transmitted infections, childhood pregnancy, trauma and its
accompanying physical and mental health implications.
“This means that there must be access to knowledge about
sexual health and systems that modify behaviours, as well as, access to
services that prevent and manage them.’
Speaking on issues affecting reproductive health, the
commissioner mentioned age, rural/urban dwellers, education, socio-economic
status, work, cultural and social norms as part of the issues affecting
reproductive health in Nigeria.
He also listed female genital mutilation, early marriage;
female disinheritance, gender and socio-economic issues, human rights, existing
laws, policies, regulations, and strategies, among others.
On improving the reproductive health system, Idris advice
that there must be education, increased investment in health, good governance,
social and economic empowerment of women, strengthening health services,
development of rights-based, code of ethics and domestication of international
conventions.
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