Assessment of health services for treatment of sexually transmitted infections among Nigerian adolescents

Background: The available evidence indicates that Nigerian adolescents use various health practitioners for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). However, the quality of the STD treatment used by adolescents has not been investigated previously. Goal of this Study: To investigate the quality of services provided by health practitioners for the treatment and prevention of STDs among adolescents in Benin City, Nigeria. Study Design: In-depth interviews were conducted with 48 formal and informal sector health practitioners who were identified by key informants as being the main providers of STD treatment in the city. Their facilities were visited to evaluate the quality of services they provide for STD treatment. Results: Health providers in the informal sector showed inadequate knowledge of the appropriate treatment methods for STDs. Although providers in the formal sector had better knowledge, they lacked appropriate management guidelines and were poorly oriented to the problems of STDs in adolescents. There was consensus among the health providers that adolescents most frequently use informal treatment for STDs. Nevertheless, among all providers, there was evidence of inadequate counseling of adolescents, a poor attitude toward the promotion of condom use, and inadequate use of referral opportunities. Conclusions: Comprehensive public health measures are needed to address these problems in Nigeria. These include the provision of reproductive health education for adolescents, the retraining of health providers, and the consolidation of services for the prevention and treatment of STDs.