ABSTRACT
Background: The early sexual debut of adolescents predisposes them to unplanned pregnancy, maternal mortality, VVF, STIs and HIV/AIDS. Early marriages, school dropout, sexual abuse are also some common negative outcomes. Lack of awareness, access, fear of stigma, and backlash are common barriers to Adolescent contraception. The need to create social support and safe spaces where adolescent girls can be mentored as advocates of contraception among their peers is important.
Objectives: To determine effectiveness of peer-to-peer group network strategy in driving adolescence contraception in Benue State, Focusing on data from DHIS from May-December 2021 and January-August 2022.
Materials and Methods: Community Reproductive Health Service Center was established for continuous engagement of adolescent girls as a sustainability strategy. Health education teachers in 3 secondary schools at Gwer-West LGA were trained as advocates for Family Planning. The messages were specifically tailored to suite in-school adolescents. Health clubs, peer groups and social media channels were set up to connect students from various schools under the supervision of Health Teachers with Facility Service Providers serving as Matrons. ORION and Client Record Forms (CRF) were tools used to gather and evaluate data.
Results: Prior to implementation of strategy, the baseline showed a trend of 7.8% to 22.2% service uptake from May to December 2021, after the intervention there was a significant increase in the percentage number of adolescents from 8.8% to 31.9% from January to August 2022.
Conclusion: Networking peer groups across school communities has proven to be an effective strategy in scaling contraceptive awareness with in-school adolescents.
Keywords: Adolescent, Contraception, awareness, peer-to-group, networking
