Oluwaseyi Somefun

University of the Witwatersrand | wits · Demography and Population Studies

Acceptability has become a key consideration in the development, evaluation and implementation of health and social interventions. This commentary paper advances key learnings and recommendations for future intervention acceptability research with young people in Africa, aimed at supporting the achievement of developmental goals. It relates finding...

Studies have linked the timing of sexual debut to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmissible infections, including HIV. Current understandings of sexual debut among Nigerian adolescents focused on the roles of individual and familial characteristics. We leveraged the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data to examine how community fea...

Background The availability of modern contraception including long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC), is a fundamental component of postabortion care. Findings from a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) in South Africa comparing immediate to delayed insertion of the copper intrauterine device (IUD) after medical abortion (MA) at 17-20 ge...

Objective Interventions aimed at improving adolescent health and social outcomes are more likely to be successful if the young people they target find them acceptable. However, no standard definitions or indicators exist to assess acceptability. A cceptability research with adolescents in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) is still limited and...

BACKGROUND: Documentation of patterns and long-term trends in mortality in young people, which reflect huge changes in demographic and social determinants of adolescent health, enables identification of global investment priorities for this age group. We aimed to analyse data on the number of deaths, years of life lost, and mortality rates by sex a...

Background: South Africa has a liberal abortion law, yet denial of care is not uncommon, usually due to a woman being beyond the legal gestational age limit for abortion care at that facility. For women successfully obtaining care, time from last menstrual period to confirmation of pregnancy is significantly longer among those having an abortion la...

Background: The relationship between migration and fertility has vexed demographers for years. One issue missing in the literature is the lack of careful temporal consideration of when women migrate and specifically, the extent to which they do either before or after live births. Objective: Here, we opt for a more appropriate methodological appr...

Background Documentation of patterns and long-term trends in mortality in young people, which reflect huge changes in demographic and social determinants of adolescent health, enables identification of global investment priorities for this age group. We aimed to analyse data on the number of deaths, years of life lost, and mortality rates by sex an...

Interventions aimed at improving adolescent developmental outcomes are more likely to be successful if the young people they target find them acceptable. However, no standard definitions or indicators exist to assess acceptability, acceptability research with adolescents in LMICs is still limited, and no known reviews synthesise the evidence from A...

Background High-resolution estimates of HIV burden across space and time provide an important tool for tracking and monitoring the progress of prevention and control efforts and assist with improving the precision and efficiency of targeting efforts. We aimed to assess HIV incidence and HIV mortality for all second-level administrative units across...

Background South Africa has a liberal abortion law, yet denial of care is not uncommon, usually due to a woman being beyond the legal gestational age limit for abortion care at that facility. For women successfully obtaining care, time from last menstrual period to confirmation of pregnancy is significantly longer among those having an abortion lat...

Background The availability of modern contraception including long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC), is a fundamental component of post-abortion care. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) in South Africa compared immediate to interval insertion of the copper intrauterine device (IUD) after second trimester medical abortion (MA). Immediate ins...

Introduction The availability of modern contraception including long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC), is a fundamental component of post-abortion care. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) in South Africa compared immediate to interval insertion of the copper intrauterine device (IUD) after second trimester medical abortion (MA). Immediate i...

Background Universal access to contraception is an important strategy adopted by the South African government to reduce the high rate of unintended pregnancies, especially in women living with HIV. In this article, we describe the choices of contraception and also, examine the influencing factors of the choices of contraception in the immediate pos...

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a rules-based synthesis of the available evidence on levels and trends in health outcomes, a diverse set of risk factors, and health system responses. GBD 2019 covered 204 countries and territories, as well as first administrative level disaggregations for 22 countr...

For primary prevention of spousal violence which is highly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), an important empirical question is “how early in a marital relationship does spousal violence commence? In this study, we employed descriptive statistics, Kaplan-Meier method and accelerated failure time models to estimate prevalence of parental histor...

Introduction Despite the prevalence of mental illness among young adults in South Africa, few studies have examined its correlation with social capital using nationally representative data. Sources of social capital are different for youth, which is why understanding the correlation between family and neighbourhood social capital and mental health...

Background: Universal access to contraception is an important strategy adopted by the South African government in order to reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies in women with HIV. In this article, we describe the choices of contraception and also, examine the influencing factors of the choices of contraception in the immediate postpartum period...

Background: Universal access to contraception is an important strategy adopted by the South African government to reduce the high rate of unintended pregnancies, especially in women living with HIV. In this article, we describe the choices of contraception and also, examine the influencing factors of the choices of contraception in the immediate po...

Mentoring is important for improving capacity development in population and public health research in sub-Saharan Africa. A variety of experiences have been documented since Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) admitted the first cohort in 2011. However, the experience of mentoring opportunities in CARTA has not been studied....

Background Given the paucity of data on recreational drug use and the recent media attention on the abuse of drugs such as codeine cough syrups and tramadol, in Nigeria, our study examined the prevalence and frequency of recreational drug use among young adults from two Nigerian universities. We drew from the Socio-ecological Model to examine the i...

Optimal birth spacing (defined as a birth spacing of 24-59 months) is incontrovertibly linked to better health outcomes for both mothers and babies. Using the most recent available Demographic and Health Survey data, we examined the patterns and determinants of short and long birth intervals among women in selected sub-Saharan African (SSA) countri...

Background: A considerable number of previous studies have examined the trends, correlates, and consequences of premarital childbearing among adolescents and young women in Africa. However, very little is known about whether and how soon single mothers have another premarital birth in sub-Saharan African countries. This study examines the timing o...

This chapter assesses how children’s serious illness or disability affects the labour market participation of all adults living in a household. The chapter goes beyond the usual father–mother analyses and accounts for the context of developing countries characterised by an extended family structure. It uses the National Income Dynamics Study panel...

Adolescent development is affected, not only by individual factors but by the broader social environment in which families live. This raises the following questions: how do changing dynamics of familial life influence adolescent development and how is the effect of family change similar or different across countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)? Thi...

Demographic and anthropological research has juxtaposed the private and public benefits of a healthy marital dyad vis-à-vis the private and public costs of marital dissolution. In particular, the private costs of marital dissolution largely affect the psychological, socioeconomic, emotional, and physical health and well-being of millions of childre...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206197.].

The prevalence of child marriage in West Africa is one of the highest in the global south. Yet, much of what we know about the harmful effects of early marriage and why it persists comes from research on South Asia. Adopting life course family development perspectives on adolescent sexuality, we examine the linkages between the timing of union form...

Background Method-specific contraceptive prevalence varies widely globally, as huge variations exist in the use of different types of contraception, with short-term methods being the most common methods in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Evidence is scanty on the trends, patterns and determinants of long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods in...

Background Religion plays an important role in youth behaviours, making it a significant factor in the discourse on youth sexuality in sub-Saharan Africa. Several studies have found that religion and religiosity play an important role in the sexual behaviours of young people. However, little research in Nigeria has examined the mechanisms through w...

Research is vague regarding the influence of media exposure on HIV testing among youth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using three rounds of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from three selected countries in SSA (Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia), this article investigates the relationship between mass media exposure and HIV testing among youth in SSA. L...

Abstract Background The reasons for the persistence of risky sexual behaviours among adolescents and young adults in sub-Saharan Africa despite the increasing knowledge about the associated risks continue to attract scholarly debates. Drawing from a cross-sectional study conducted among male and female Nigerian university students, we examined the...

Dataset- sexually active only. (SAV)

Is early sexual debut a key determinant of union formation among young adults in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)? Using a life-course perspective, this article analysed data from Demographic and Health Surveys of selected countries to examine the relationship between sexual behaviour measured by age at first sex and the likelihood of cohabitation or marri...

Adult mortality is an important development and public health issue that continues to attract the attention of demographers and public health researchers. Controversies exist about the accurate level of adult mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), due to different data sources and errors in data collection. To address this shortcoming, methods have...

Several studies have focused on the risk factors associated with adolescent developmental outcomes, but the literature on the role of protective factors at the family and community level for positive adolescent development is scarce, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We hypothesize that ensuring a supportive environment for adolescents may re...

Sample size by country. (DOCX)

Background Crime and violence causes massive disruptions to the health, survival and development of populations. In South Africa, incredibly high rates of crime and violence are noted. The country also has a very large youth population whose health, survival and development are key to economic growth. Among other efforts to encourage healthy youth...

The question of youth sexual behaviour has been widely debated, with researchers such as Berhan and Berhan (2015) arguing that young adults aged 15–24 are more likely to engage in risky behaviours. However, research has not adequately addressed the issue of positive sexual behaviours, in particular among young people in sub-Saharan Africa. Adapting...

With about one quarter of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections occuring in young people, there is an on-going debate regarding the role of social capital on youth sexual behaviour. Some studies have suggested that high levels of family and community social capital may act as protective factors that lessen the likelihood of negative con...

Due to globalization, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is experiencing some changes in her traditional family patterns. A large body of research has examined the relationship between family structure and youth developmental outcomes and few studies have reported the gender differentials in the effect of changing family structure on these outcomes. In an in...

The question of family dissolution has been widely debated by demographers, economists and health experts in developed countries. However, there appears to be a dearth of research on the contextual determinants of family dissolution in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the variations that exist within regions. This article is stimulated by the recogniti...

Background While studies in demography and public health have acknowledged the role of ethnic differences, the influence of ethnicity on youth sexual behaviour in Nigeria has received little or no attention. It is important to know how cultural norms and gender roles, which vary by ethnicity, may promote or prevent risky behaviour. Such information...

Although, there are several programs in place in Nigeria to ensure maternal and child health, maternal and neonatal mortality rates remain high with maternal mortality rates being 576/100,000 and neonatal mortality rates at 37/1000 live births (NDHS, 2013). While there are many studies on the utilization of maternal health services such as antenata...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a form of violence perpetrated by men or women against their spouses or partners. It is a frequent form of gender violence globally and in sub-Saharan Africa. IPV has been associated with a range of negative health outcomes such as still birth, premature delivery, low birth weight, high risk of STI, low use of mat...

Studies on extramarital sexual behaviour in Africa have typically been asymmetrical with most of the focus on men to the neglect of women. Extramarital sexual relationships have been associated with HIV infection in marriages and a range of other social problems. The purpose of this study was to examine whether extramarital sexual behaviour varies...

South Africa has one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the world. It is estimated that 5.38 million South Africans are living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, new infections among adults aged 15+ were reportedly 316 900 in 2011. New infections among children (0–14 years old) was also high in 2011 at 63 600. This paper examines South Africa's m...

Evidence has linked the position of a woman in a marital dyad with a number of reproductive health outcomes. However, evidence is sparse on the implications of gender inequality for maternal and child healthcare utilization in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aims to address this knowledge gap. Data came from most recent Demographic and Health Survey...