Abstract

Health education can be defined as the process concerned with providing a combination of approaches to lifestyle change that can assist individuals, families and communities in making informed decisions on matters that affect the restoration, achievement and maintenance of health.
Contraception, also referred to as birth control, is a process or technique for the prevention of pregnancy by means of a medication, device or method that blocks or alters one or more of the processes of reproduction in such a way that sexual union can occur without impregnation. This study assessed the effect of health education and condom provision on male contraceptive uptake in Kasuwan Ali, Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State.
A community-based quasi experimental study was carried out among men aged 15-65 years in two χcommunities viz; Kasuwan Ali in Mangu Local Government Area who served as the intervention group and Dorowa Babuje in Barkin/Ladi Local Government Area as control. Health education sessions through lectures, flip chart demonstrations and role plays were conducted to respondents in the waiting hall of Comprehensive Health Centre Gindiri, condoms and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials were subsequently supplied to the Reproductive Health sections of these facilities and respondents were encouraged to utilize the commodity. Six months post- intervention, the effect of health education and condom provision on knowledge and utilization of contraceptive methods was determined using a semi- structured interviewer administered questionnaire pre and post intervention. All data generated pre and post- intervention were processed and analyzed using EPI info statistical software version 3.5.1. Student’s t- test and Chi square (χ2) tests were applied appropriately for statistical analysis. A 95% confidence level was used for the study and a p – value of less than or equal to 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
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The intervention and control groups were comparable in terms of age, marital status, ethnicity, educational level and number of married partners. Majority of the respondents were within the age range of 15- 45 years in both intervention (79%) and control (81.4%) groups. There was a statistically significant increase in proportion of respondents with good knowledge of contraceptives in the intervention group from 172 (81.9%) pre- intervention to 196 (93.3%) post intervention. There was also a statistically significant increase in contraceptive use from 82 (39.0%) among the respondents’ pre- intervention to 160 (76.2%) post intervention, (p< 0.001). There was a decrease in self-reported signs and symptoms of STIs amongst condom users from 54% to 7.7% in the last 6 months in the intervention group which was statistically significant (p< 0.001).
This study has demonstrated that health education and condom provision is effective in improving knowledge and utilization of male contraceptive methods. It is therefore recommended that health education and uninterrupted supply of male contraceptive methods will improve its utilization resulting in improved child spacing, and reduction of STIs including HIV/AIDS.

THE EFFECT OF HEALTH EDUCATION AND CONDOM PROVISION ON KNOWLEDGE AND UTILISATION OF CONTRACEPTIVES AMONG MEN IN PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA