Experts have called for increased access to contraceptives to help prevent unwanted pregnancies in Nigeria.

The calls were part of activities marking this year’s World Contraceptive Day.

A statement made available to National Mirror by Development Communications (DevComs) Network said the need to increase contraceptive use among sexually active people in Nigeria was critical to reducing unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion.

It quoted Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS 2013) which says about 23 percent of teenage girls between ages 15 and 19 are already mothers or pregnant with their first child, while half of the women age 25-49 years were already married by age 18 and 61 percent were married by age 20.

According to DevComs, sexual and reproductive behavioural pattern of Nigerians show that women and men tend to initiate sexual activity before marriage. And, these lifestyle, coupled with high fertility and low contraceptive prevalence rate typically lead to unintended pregnancies, close births spacing and high-risk births.

It added that Nigeria’s maternal mortality ratio stood at 576 per 100,000 live births; and a World Health Organization report said Nigeria lost about 40, 000 women due to child birth in 2013.

In the statement, Advocacy Advisor of Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) Mrs. Charity Ibeawuchi, said: “The young persons who form the majority among the women of reproductive age should be encouraged to space pregnancies and childbirths. The adolescents and youths in Nigeria are faced with gross challenges of sexual and reproductive ill-health as a result of their inability to access relevant information and services.

“In particular, adolescent girls are more vulnerable to health problems arising from under-age child bearing, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortion, sexual exploitation and abuse which consequently contribute to the high maternal morbidity and mortality,” she added.

The association maintained that with low contraceptive prevalence rate of 10 percent and high fertility rate of 5.5, there was strong indication that only few Nigerian women were using modern family planning methods for spacing or limiting pregnancies.