Unmet Need of Emergency Contraceptives: The Curious Scenario of Female Undergraduates in the Niger Delta

Background: The high morbidity and mortality among young women from unsafe abortions resulting from unwanted pregnancy and teenage pregnancy are mostly as a result of low contraceptive usage especially emergency contraceptives (EC). This is often due to restricted availability, limited knowledge, worries about side effects and future fertility, underestimation of pregnancy risk, high cost, religious and cultural barriers.
Objectives: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, use and unmet need of emergency contraceptives among female undergraduates of the Niger Delta University.
Methods: This is a cross sectional study conducted in July 2013 among 450 female students who were randomly selected using the multi-stage sampling technique. Data were collected with the aid of a pre-tested, structured self-administered questionnaire. Epi-Info 3.5.3 was used for data entry and analysis.
Results: More than half (60.2%) of the students were aware of emergency contraception, friends/relatives being the commonest source of information for 42.5% of the students. Levonorgestrel only EC was the most commonly known EC (57.1%). About a third (30.3%) believed that EC can be used for termination of pregnancy and chemists/pharmacies were reported by 63.9% as the most common place of procurement of ECs. Nearly half of the students (45.6%) were sexually active; only 4.8% of the sexually experienced students had ever used EC; and 17.2% had had unsafe abortion. Reported barriers to the use of EC include high cost, unmarried status, non-availability and being young.
Conclusion: There is low level of use of EC among the female undergraduates of the Niger Delta University, mostly as a result of misconception, poverty, negative attitude of care providers and restricted availability. We recommend the introduction of the study of family planning methods into the school curriculum and there should be unrestricted access to EC on the campus.