Sexual Behaviors and Outcomes among Female and Male Youth from Major Urban Areas in Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal

Ilene S. Speizer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jean-Christophe Fotso, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)
Hawa Talla, IntraHealth International, Inc.
Akin Akiode, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)
Joshua Davis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Saad Abdulmumin, Johns Hopkins University
Jane Otai, Jhpiego,Tupange

Urban youth have greater education and employment opportunities than their rural counterparts; this does not always translate into lower health risks. This paper examines sexual and reproductive health behaviors of female youth in major urban areas in Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal. Data were collected in 2010/2011. A greater percentage of Kenyan youth are sexually experienced, currently using modern family planning and have experienced a teenage pregnancy compared to Senegal and Nigeria. In country-specific multivariate analyses, more educated youth are more likely to have had premarital sex than be ever married; more likely to use modern contraception; and less likely to have had a teenage pregnancy than less educated youth. Poorer youth are more likely to have had a teenage pregnancy than richer youth. Other factors associated with youth sexual risk-taking differ by country. Study findings are used to make programmatic recommendations for urban areas across and within specific country settings.