UTILIZATION OF REPRODUCTIVEHEALTH

Background: Adolescents constitutes a significant portion of any population and frequentlyexperience underservice of their sexual and reproductive health needs in various societies dueto lack of sexual health information and services which place them at risk. This study was conducted with a view to raising awareness of RHS available and ensuring better access andutilization in the community. Aim: To assess the knowledge, access and utilization of reproductive health services (RHS)by female adolescents residing in Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria Methods: The research employed a quantitative design. A total of 592 female adolescentsparticipated in the study, and an assessment was conducted on six health facilities, evenlydistributed between private and government sectors. Data collection utilized interviewer-administered structured questionnaires in English, adapted from existing literature, andhealthpersonnel were interviewed through recorded phone conversations. Significant associationsbetween utilization and categorical variables were assessed using the Chi-squaretest. Knowledge scores were determined using a composite scoring system, and a multivariablelogistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors independently associatedwithutilization. A statistical significance level of p-value below 5% was set for declaring statistical significance. Results: The study involved adolescents aged 11-18 years, predominantly of Beninorigin(50.7%), Christians (94.1%) who mostly lived with both parents (74.3%) and the majorityofparents fell into the middle-income class (83.3%). The average age at menarche was 12.4years, with 18.9% not having experienced first menstruation. About 11%reported their first sexual experience, and 3% were currently sexually active, with 38.9%using contraceptives, primarily oral contraceptive pills.