Ayodeji Matthew Adebayo

Sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHRs) are fundamental human rights that underpin gender equality, health, and sustainable development, yet violations remain widespread among women in many low- and middle-income settings due to entrenched socio-cultural norms, gender inequality, and unequal power relations within marriage. This study assessed both the violations and the exercise of SRHRs among ever-married women in Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria, using a community-based cross-sectional mixed-methods design. A total of 423 ever-married women aged 15–49 years were selected through multistage sampling from two Local Government Areas, with quantitative data collected via semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaires and qualitative insights obtained from five focus group discussions; quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression, while qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis. Overall, 25.1% of respondents reported experiencing violations of SRHRs, with the most common being violations of the right to freedom from sexual violence (29.3%), and husbands identified as the primary perpetrators (38.7%). Despite this, 90.1% of respondents reported exercising at least one SRHR, most commonly the right to marriage (27.9%) and the right to family planning (25.1%), and among those who experienced violations, 57.5% reported taking some form of action against the violation, the perpetrator, or both. Qualitative findings further highlighted intimate partner violence, coercive childbearing, and socio-cultural expectations as key drivers of SRHR violations. These findings indicate that SRHR violations remain prevalent among married women in Ibadan, underscoring the need to strengthen awareness, legal protections, and community support mechanisms to enhance women’s capacity to exercise their sexual and reproductive health rights.

Healthcare workers are central to delivering quality care, yet many struggle to attend to their own health due to heavy workloads, long hours, and a culture that normalizes self-treatment. This study examined healthcare-seeking patterns and determinants of service utilisation among clinical and non-clinical workers in tertiary hospitals in Ondo State, Nigeria, using a comparative mixed-methods cross-sectional design involving 460 participants. Quantitative data were collected through pretested interviewer-administered questionnaires, complemented by qualitative insights from Key Informant Interviews, with analysis conducted using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, logistic regression (p<0.05), and thematic analysis with NVIVO 14. Findings showed that clinical workers were generally younger and exhibited poorer health behaviours compared to non-clinical staff, with inappropriate health-seeking behaviour high in both groups but more pronounced among clinical workers (87.4% vs. 80%). Utilisation of available health services was similarly poor, slightly lower among non-clinical workers (83.9% vs. 82.2%). Predictors of better healthcare utilisation among clinical workers included being on regular medication, appropriate health-seeking behaviour, and having health insurance, while among non-clinical workers, ever consulting a doctor and good health-seeking behaviour significantly increased utilisation. Overall, despite perceiving themselves as healthy, both groups demonstrated poor health-seeking patterns and underutilisation of available services, highlighting the urgent need for policies and institutional strategies that promote preventive care, routine screening, and a healthier workplace culture for all healthcare workers.

Patent medicine vendors (PMVs) play vital roles in the delivery of family planning services in Nigeria and other developing countries. There is a growing recognition of the need to integrate them into the formal health care system as a strategy to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate and achieve universal health coverage. Though promising, the success of this proposition is largely dependent on a critical analysis of the factors which influence their operations. This study was designed to identify the contextual factors influencing the provision of injectable contraceptive services by PMVs and the broader effects of their activities on the health system to inform similar interventions in Nigeria. This was a qualitative study guided by the UK Medical Research Council’s Framework for Complex Interventions. Twenty-seven in-depth interviews were conducted among officials of the association of PMVs, health workers, government regulatory officers and programme implementers who participated in a phased 3-year (2015–2018) intervention designed to enhance the capacity of PMVs to deliver injectable contraceptive services. The data were transcribed and analyzed thematically using NVIVO software. The contextual factors which had implications on the roles of PMVs were socio-cultural and religious, the failing Nigerian health system coupled with government regulatory policies. Other factors were interprofessional tensions and rivalry between the PMVs and some categories of health care workers and increasing donors’ interest in exploring the potentials of PMVs for expanded healthcare service provision. According to the respondents, the PMVs bridged the Nigerian health system service delivery gaps serving as the first point of contact for injectable contraceptive services and this increased contraceptive uptake in the study sites. A negative effect of their operation is the tendency to exceed their service provision limits, which has spurred a planned tiered PMV accreditation system. This study has highlighted the contextual factors which define the roles and scope of practice of PMVs involved in injectable contraceptive service provision. Strategies and interventions aimed at expanding the healthcare delivery roles of PMVs must be encompassing to address the broader contextual factors which underpin their capacities and functions.

A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 991 pregnant and 674 non-pregnant women of reproductive age attending healthcare facilities in Ibadan, Nigeria using the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ), and WHO self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ). Logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors of psychiatric morbidity at p < 0.05. A significantly higher proportion of pregnant women experienced psychological distress on the GHQ (51.8%) and psychiatric morbidity on SRQ (33.3%) compared with 28.6% and 18.2% of non-pregnant women, respectively. Predictors of psychiatric morbidity among pregnant women were the type of facility, poor satisfaction and communication with partners, the experience of violence in the home, previous abortions, and previous history of depression. Psychiatric morbidity among non-pregnant women was predicted by younger age, previous history of depression, poor satisfaction and communication with partners. There is a need for early identification of psychiatric morbidity among women of reproductive age, to ensure early interventions and prevent long-term disability.

Background One of the possible strategies for instilling culture of prevention of intimate partner violence (IPV) among rudimentary age-groups is training of teachers on this subject. Aim: To determine teachers’ ability to precisely define their experience of IPV prior to training, this study evaluates the psychometric properties of an adapted WHO/IPV scale assessed on teachers of selected secondary schools in Osun State, Southwestern Nigeria. Methods Self-applied responses from a WHO scale on experience of IPV of a sample of 365 female teachers recruited by a two-stage sampling technique was subjected to principal component analysis and ANOVA of independent comparative means. Results The PCA yielded three components with respective items correlation range and reliability of: Psychological violence (0.3–0.43, 0.61); sexual violence (0.3–0.52, 0.72) and physical violence (0.3–0.69, 0.73). Experience of psychological and physical violence differed significantly with having an alcoholic spouse while weekly alcoholics differed with the former IPV construct. Having less than three children and voluntary termination of pregnancy differed with sexual violence. Psychological violence was significantly different with ever tried delaying or avoiding getting pregnant. p < 0.05. Conclusion This study affirms the validation of the WHO/IPV tool’s delineation across theorised psychological, physical and sexual constructs among secondary school teachers. The tool discriminated against pertinent family, lifestyle, sexual and reproductive characteristics of these pivotal change agents in grassroot prevention of IPV.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to assess perception (of) and intention to use reproductive life plan among 500 female final year undergraduates of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Only 22% of the respondents were aware of RLP and 63% had good perception of RLP. Most (85.1%) had the intention to plan their pregnancy and 64.5% intended to use RLP as a tool for planning pregnancy. More respondents (85.8%) who were aware of family planning methods had intention to plan their pregnancy compared to those that were not (61.5%; p = .015). Similarly, 65.8% of respondents who were aware of family planning methods had intention to use RLP compared to 23.1% of those who were not (p = .002). Respondents’ awareness of the concept of RLP was poor and majority agreed to use RLP as a tool for planning pregnancy. Awareness of family planning methods was associated with intention to use RLP.

Background: Patent Medicine Vendors (PMVs) play vital roles in the delivery of family planning services in Nigeria and other developing countries. There is a growing recognition of the need to integrate them into the formal health care system as a strategy to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate and achieve universal health coverage. Though promising, the success of this proposition is largely dependent on a critical analysis of the factors which influence their operations. This study was designed to identify the contextual factors influencing the provision of injectable contraceptive services by PMVs and the broader effects of their activities on the health system to inform similar interventions in Nigeria.Methods: This was a qualitative study guided by the the Medical Research Council’s framework for Complex Interventions. Twenty-seven in-depth interviews were conducted among officials of the association of PMVs, health workers, government regulatory officers and programme implementers who participated in a phased 3-year (2015-2018) intervention designed to enhance the capacity of PMVs to deliver injectable contraceptive services. The data were transcribed and analyzed thematically using NVIVO software. Results: The contextual factors which had implications on the roles of PMVs were socio-cultural and religious, the failing Nigerian health system coupled with government regulatory policies. Other factors were interprofessional tensions and rivalry between the PMVs and some categories of health care workers and increasing donors’ interest in exploring the potentials of PMVs for expanded healthcare service provision. According to the respondents, the PMVs bridged the Nigerian health system service delivery gaps serving as the first point of contact for injectable contraceptive services and these increased contraceptive uptake in the study sites. A negative effect of their operation is the tendency to exceed their limits in service provision and this has spurred a planned tiered PMV accreditation system.Conclusions: This study has highlighted the contextual factors which define the roles and scope of practice of PMVs involved in injectable contraceptive service provision. Strategies and interventions aimed at expanding the healthcare delivery roles of PMVs must be encompassing and address the broader contextual factors which underpins their capacities and functions.

Despite the potential benefits the Internet offers, it is prone to excessive and uncontrolled use, thus resulting in a condition called Internet addiction (IA). This study aimed to describe the prevalence of Internet addiction (IA) among in-school adolescents in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 632 adolescents using a two-stage sampling technique. IA was assessed using the 20-question Internet addiction test (IAT). Responses to each question ranged from “0” (i.e., “never”) to “5” (i.e., “always”). Cumulative IAT scores > 50% suggested the presence of IA. Chi-square tests were conducted to determine the association between adolescents’ characteristics and IA. Statistically significant variables were pooled into the binary logistic regression model. P-values < 0.05 were statistically significant. The mean age of the adolescents was 16.03 ± 1.26 years, and 347 (54.9%) were males. A total of 284 (44.9%) adolescents had IA: 174 (42%) accessed the Internet in both home and school settings (ᵡ² = 4.103, p = 0.043), and 174 (42%) accessed the Internet at home only (ᵡ² = 5.003, p = 0.025). Adolescents who accessed the Internet from both home and school settings had higher odds of developing IA (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.408, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.986-2.012, p = 0.060), as well as those who accessed the Internet from home settings only (AOR = 1.404, 95%CI = 1.010-1.953, p = 0.043). Adolescents who gained four to six hours of Internet connection weekly had two times odds of developing IA (AOR = 1.404, 95%CI = 1.010-1.953, p = 0.043), and those who gained more than six hours of Internet connection had more than three times odds of developing IA (AOR = 3.424, 95%CI = 1.937-6.053, p = 0.043). To prevent IA, adolescents should develop self-control skills and self-regulation of Internet use. Likewise, Internet access should be restricted from both home and school settings, and adolescents’ Internet access should be monitored and regulated from both home and school settings.

Problematic internet use (PIU) has generally been strongly associated with depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, especially among adolescents, with resulting consequences for their health. This study explores the pattern of internet use, and the prevalence of PIU before and during the COVID-19 lockdown, as well as the causes, effects, and potential mitigation measures in respect of PIU during the lockdown, among high school students in Ibadan, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire, including a 20-question internet addiction test (IAT), was administered during the COVID-19 lockdown to 440 adolescents enrolled in high schools. Of these adolescents, 7.7% appeared from their responses to have had PIU before the COVID-19 lockdown period. However, 64.3% of respondents appeared from their responses to have had PIU during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The main reasons for the increased PIU were boredom, loneliness, idleness, pleasure gained from internet use, physical isolation, and the need for information and communication. The effects of PIU reported among the adolescents included reduced family intimacy, poor academic performance, loss of concentration, as well as internet abuse and risky sexual behaviour. To mitigate PIU among high school students, parental monitoring of adolescents, and their internet access and use, should be promoted. In addition, programmes should be organised by the media and academic institutions to keep adolescents engaged in productive tasks.

The burden of mental health problems among medical students is on the increase especially when compared with their counterparts in other disciplines. This has counterproductive impact on the societ...