title: Sexual behaviour and contraceptive practice of future doctors in Southwest Nigeria.
abstract: The sexual behaviour and contraceptive practice of 498 clinical students of a randomly selected medical college in Southwest Nigeria was studied in June 2003. More than two-thirds (67.5%) of the students had (ever had) sexual intercourse while 49.8% of them had ever used contraception. Only 26.1% of the 119 sexually active students used contraception during their last sexual intercourse. The most common contraceptive methods ever used by the students were the condom (54.6%) and rhythm method (39.5%) though a third of them incorrectly identified the limits of the fertile period. Contraception for single sexually active students was disapproved by 11.2% of the participants while 9.8% of them regarded avoidance of HIV patients in the hospital as a preventive measure against HIV infection. This survey reinforces the need for integration of a suitable sexuality course into our medical undergraduate curriculum in order to facilitate the delivery of reproductive health programmes in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, P.M.B. 2001 Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria. femioladapo@hotmail.com
authors.forename: O T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Oladapo
authors.forename: A O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Sule-Odu
authors.forename: O J
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Fakoya
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003267:Contraception / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003479:Curriculum; D004501:Education, Medical; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria; D011247:Pregnancy; D012736:Sex Education; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*