PERCEPTION OF WOMEN’S INFERTILITY AMONG THE YORUBAS IN IBADAN, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Cultural beliefs are consequential in explaining the general perspective of any disease(s) and this has led to discrepancies in the description of the etiology of diseases between patients and professional health care providers, thereby affecting the care provided and patients’ compliance with treatment. Infertility is also seen in that light. This study thus examined the perception of women’s infertility and treatment of infertility among married men and women in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire copies were administered on 400 respondents while data were elicited from 12 married men and women that were yet to give birth (3 in each of the 4 selected LGAs) through Key Informant Interview (KII) guides. The study measured the perception of infertility, causes of infertility, solution to infertility and association between some demographic variables and the perception of infertility. The results revealed that infertility was majorly discerned as a spiritual problem (40%) and ancestral curses (24%). Solutions to the challenges were diverse as shown by indulgence in prayer (39%), consumption of herbal concoction (29%) and making sacrifices to appease the gods (15%.. Statistically, the Chi Square test showed significant relationship between religion and perception of women infertility. The study recommends aggressive public advocacy programs and pragmatic reproductive health education programmes targeted at addressing misconceptions/fallacies about infertility coupled with accessible and affordable health care for couples horse-trading with infertility.