Women’s knowledge and attitude towards unsafe abortion in the farming communities of Ile-Ife, Southwest Nigeria

Abiola A. Afolabi, Anne Taiwo, Taye I. Ademusire

Abstract

Unsafe abortion is a public health concern due its effects on women’s health and maternal morbidity and mortality. A communitybased cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the knowledge and attitudes of unsafe abortion among women in the farming communities of Ile-Ife, southwest, Nigeria. Self-administered questionnaire that was pretested was used in collecting information from 310 respondents. The samples were achieved using a simple random sampling technique from December to January, 2023. The data were collected by face-to-face survey and analyzed by STATA version 17. The knowledge and attitude of respondents on unsafe abortion were presented using simple proportion and frequency. The mean age of the respondent was 28.8±5.55. Overall, the findings suggest that age (OR=0.05, 95% CI=0.01-0.42, p=0.005), education (OR=0.04, 95% CI=0.00-0.35, p=0.004), marital status (OR=0.06, 95% CI=0.00-0.90, p=0.042) and ever been pregnant (OR=0.06, 95% CI=0.00-0.90, p=0.042), were significant predictors of poor knowledge of unsafe abortion among rural women in Ile-Ife. The study concluded that there is a need for health education among rural women on unsafe abortion and its associated risks. (Afr J Reprod Health 2024; 28 [3s]: 45-56).

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