Awareness and use of emergency contraception among women attending antenatal clinic in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria.

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge and use of emergency contraception (EC) amongst antenatal care attendees at the Federal Medical Center, Bida (FMCB), Nigeria. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, hospital-based, descriptive study involving women attending routine check-up at antenatal clinic of FMCB. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by the women after having obtained written informed consents. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 23.0 (IBM Inc., Armonk, New York, USA). Descriptive statistical analysis was employed. Statistical significance was set at a p value of <0.05. Results: This research involved 129 women and demonstrated that only 43 (33.3%) had any knowledge of EC. Eighteen of these (41.9%) had their source of information from health workers followed by friends and peers (n=12, 27.9%) and one (2.3%) from public health campaign. Only 17.5% had used EC, with the majority (65.2%) using levonorgestrel pills, 13.1% used an intrauterine contraceptive device and 3.3% used the combined oral contraceptive pills. About two-thirds (67.4%) had no idea when EC would be effective. Age, tertiary level of education, religion, ethnicity, and upper socioeconomic status were all significantly associated with awareness of EC. Conclusion: The majority of the women in our cohort were not aware of EC and the proportion who had used EC was even lower. Therefore, there is a need to increase the awareness and effective use of EC through health education and advocacy.