Determinants of Sexo-Reproductive Health Needs of Adolescent Girls in the Kumbo West Health District of Cameroon

Abstract

Background: The sexo-reproductive health of adolescent girls is a public health issue. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine factors associated with comprehensive categories of adolescent girls’ sexo-reproductive health needs. Methods: This was a cross sectional study among adolescent girls (target population) carried out from April to May 2018 in the Kumbo West Health District. We used a two-stage cluster sampling design followed by a systematic random sampling technique to select participants. Results: A total of 1525 adolescent girls with mean age 15.6 (SD=2.20) participated in the study. Participants relied on school teachers (66.6%), mothers (27.3%), and sisters (25.1%) for information on sexo-reproductive health. The odds of reporting ever having had sex were lower among participants who had a higher number of years expected to continue schooling (AOR: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.34-0.95), not being job seekers (AOR: 0.53; 95% CI: 0.29-0.97), being Muslims (AOR: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.01-0.07) and living with nuclear family (AOR: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.17-0.70). Mean age of sexual debut was significantly lower among participants who had never worked for payment (t=2.931, p=0.004), living in a nuclear family (t=3.94, p<0.001) and having consumed alcohol in the last 30 days (t=-4.77, p<0.001). Proportion of participants who reported been sexually attracted to persons of the same sex was 10.82% (95% CI: 8.4-14.5) with 6.48% (95% CI: 3.9-8.2) reported having had sexual contact with persons of the same sex. Those who have had <2 sexual partner in the past 12 months were 0.17 times less likely to have correct knowledge on contraceptive methods compared to those with ≥ 2 sexual partners. The proportion of participants reporting ever been forced to have sex was 13.06% (95% CI: 10.95-15.52). Also, participants reporting ever having a “one night stand” and having sex in exchange of gift and money were 1.9% (95% CI: 1.17-3.08) and 1.19% (95% CI: 0.64 2.19) respectively. Conclusion: This study has explored current sexo-reproductive health determinants among adolescent girls and to address any barriers, a Mhealth sexo-reproductive health scheme that takes into account local socio-cultural contexts is urgently needed.