Husband Engagement and Antenatal Care Utilization among Married Adolescent Girls in Nigeria: Findings from an Implementation Science Study

Alhassan Bulama, Society for Family Health
Roselyn Odeh, Society for Family Health, Nigeria
Abednego Musau, Population Services International (PSI)
Mary Phillips, Population Services International
Muhammad Kabir, Society for Family Health, Abuja, Nigeria.

Introduction In Northern Nigeria, poor maternal and child health outcomes persist due to limited access to healthcare services. This study explores the role of husband support in enhancing decision making and access to antenatal and postnatal health services for adolescent mothers. Objectives To assess the effectiveness of a demand creation intervention (ANC gallery) that creates relevance of antenatal care fostering their support for their pregnant wives to access timely and comprehensive care consistently. Methodology A mixed method study consisting of a survey with a pre-post quasi-experimental design involving both comparison and intervention cohorts, a feedback survey with husbands involved in the ANC gallery, routine analysis of health management information system data and a qualitative component using the qualitative impact protocol Results 75% of husbands participating in the ANC Gallery declared their intention to attend ANC with their wives. 54% pregnant adolescent girls attending their fourth ANC visit were accompanied by their husbands. The intervention group reported significantly higher husband support for ANC (96.3% vs. 73.2%) and fewer adolescent girls reported lack of support at the 3-month follow-up (4.2% vs. 13.5%). Conclusion The ANC Gallery Session has shown good promise at empowering husbands to support their adolescent wives' access to ANC.

Keywords: Children, Adolescents, and Youth

See extended abstract.