Sources retrieved included results on qualitative interviews, surveys, and four national strategies/reports. Studies were based on data collected in various parts of Nigeria, including the south-south 15–19, southeast 20, northcentral 21, and southwest regions 22–25. The studies were all cross-sectional studies with sample sizes ranging between 100–300. Participants reported a range of educational levels, with many including participants with education ranging from a university education to no formal education. Studies included participants from a mix of religious affiliations, with the majority of participants identifying as Christians, Muslims, or traditionalists, the three major religions in Nigeria. The studies in their totality also show a fair number of participants across the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria: Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa. A majority of the studies focused on men as primary source of data, but three studies focused on women’s perspectives on vasectomy 16,19,25. Studies recruited participants who were either in union, single or widowed. Table 1 provides further detail on each of the studies retained for analysis.
Men and women remain apprehensive about vasectomy. Most studies indicate there is high awareness of vasectomy among men in Nigeria regardless of their social location with an average of 60 percent of participants claiming to have heard or read about vasectomy. One study found a high level of awareness about FP methods in general among the various study groups in Benue (middlebelt region) and Oyo (southwestern region), though long-acting methods such as vasectomy were less frequently mentioned than short-term contraceptives 26. While the level of awareness about vasectomy did not differ drastically across demographic and regional contexts, data suggests that men and women in urban areas with more education had more knowledge about vasectomy surgery being available in Nigeria.
Studies indicate a high awareness of vasectomy amongst women; however, women’s preferences for reproductive control options varied across these studies, making it difficult to identify a clear pattern. One study conducted in the northcentral region of Nigeria found that among 400 women, of which 89.75 percent approved the use of family planning by their husbands, 81.5 percent disapproved of vasectomy as the method of choice 21. However, another study, based on a cross sectional study among 200 respondents (100 men and 100 women) in the southwestern part of Nigeria, found that only 14.8 percent of women were firmly against vasectomy and would not elect to have their husbands or male relative have the procedure. Although men and women have high awareness of vasectomy, a very low percentage—about 26 percent of those surveyed – stated they were willing to take up vasectomy in the future. Several factors prevented men and women from having the same confidence in vasectomy as a method of family planning as they have in female biomedical methods. Three broad themes were identified as key barriers to the use of vasectomy. These are: 1) fear; 2) religious and cultural beliefs, which overlapped with fear; and 3) access to health providers and health facilities. The roles played by each of these barriers in limiting the use of vasectomy in Nigeria are described below.
Table 1
Characteristics of the study
Country | Authors’ name | Study Design | Population |
Nigeria | Ogunlaja et al., 2017 | Cross sectional survey | Male between the ages of 25–35 years |
Nigeria | Ebeigbe et al., 2011 | Cross sectional survey | Resident doctors (Male and female) aged 30–49 |
Nigeria | Ezegwui et al., 2009 | Cross sectional study | Male aged 15–50 |
Nigeria | Akpamu et al., 2010 | Cross sectional study | Male aged 25–60 years of age |
Nigeria | Owopetu et al., 2015 | Descriptive survey research design | Male aged 20-80years old |
Nigeria | Onasoga et al., 2013 | Descriptive research design | Male aged 15-54years old |
Nigeria | Otovwe et al., 2018 | Cross sectional study | Male aged 10-69years |
Nigeria | Tijani et al., 2013 | Cross sectional study | Male and female aged 20–50 years |
Nigeria | Tamunomie et al., 2016 | Cross sectional study | Female who attended antenatal clinics aged 15–50 years old. |
Nigeria | Desmennu et al., 2016 | Cross sectional study | Male aged 25–65 |
Nigeria | Utoo and Utoo, 2010 | Cross sectional study | Female aged 19–45 years and above |
Nigeria | Babalola et al., 2017 | Longitudinal data analysis | Women of reproductive age |
Barriers to the use of vasectomy
Fear
Fear of the negative effects of vasectomy was the most prominent theme observed in all the studies reviewed. This fear manifested in various ways: fear of losing libido 19,20, and fear of losing fertility, especially if there is a need to remarry or have another child 17,18,22,24 were common. There was also the fear of surgery and surgical complications 16,19,23.
Five of the studies found that men believed a vasectomy is a form of castration 17,18,20,22,24. The prevalence of this fear varied by study. One study found that 45 percent of men viewed vasectomy as a form of castration and would not recommend it to anyone 17. In contrast, two studies found a lower percentage; 4.4 percent and 15.3 percent of men respectively viewed vasectomy as a form of castration 22,24. Two studies found that women also shared these same fears that once a man gets sterilized, they are castrated and lose any desire for sex 19,20.
In three studies, concerns of erectile dysfunction resulting from vasectomy were expressed commonly by women and men 19–21. Men and women in these studies worried that vasectomy resulting in loss of libido would consequently provoke promiscuity among wives since male partners would no longer able to satisfy them sexually. Three studies found that men feared surgery, surgical complications, and the non-reversible nature of vasectomy 19,20,22.
Religious and cultural beliefs
In some studies, specific religious or cultural beliefs were associated with respondents’ opposition to vasectomy. In five studies, respondents were opposed to vasectomy because it is an affront to God and his commandment to procreate 16,18,22,24,27. Two studies found that over 50 percent of respondents strongly agreed that religion and culture were critical hindrances to vasectomy uptake in Nigeria 18,20. Both studies included a mix of muslims, christians, and traditionalists indicating a shared belief regardless of religious affiliation. Some studies described specific cultural beliefs that led men to object to vasectomy. For instance, there is a common traditional belief in many parts of the southeastern and southsouthern states of Nigeria that one will be reincarnated with the bodily defaults present at their death. As such, men worry that if they adopt vasectomy, this decision will affect the state of their body at reincarnation 16. In the eastern region of Nigeria, there are additional cultural prohibitions against body modification. Some traditional titles and events, such as Ozo title, for example, forbid any procedures that remove or adjust any part of a man who wishes to be member or who is an existing member 28,29.
It should be noted that not all studies found religious beliefs to be a barrier to vasectomy. Two studies found that the effect of religion on men and women’s perspective on vasectomy was not statistically significant 19,25.
Access to health providers and health facilities
Access to providers who will counsel for and can provide vasectomy services represents another important barrier to uptake of vasectomy in Nigeria. Four studies found that health providers who did counsel for other family planning methods did not counsel for vasectomy, which could explain the low uptake of vasectomy 16,17,20,22. Three studies also reported that men rely on health providers to decide on an appropriate family planning method 17,20,22. Men in these studies said they would accept vasectomy if they were properly informed and had their fears surrounding vasectomy dispelled by health providers.
A survey of gynecologists illuminates the context of counselling (or lack thereof) for vasectomy in Nigeria 16. Among 104 resident gynaecologists in Edo and Delta states of the south-south region, only 5.8 percent admitted to counselling for a vasectomy with 47.1 percent reporting that they rarely counsel or never consider counselling. Gendered cultural norms and a lack of confidence and skill informed physicians’ lack of counselling for vasectomy. Most gynecologists (89.4%) admitted to only counselling for tubal ligation with 64.4 percent citing tubal ligation as a much better option for family planning than vasectomy. Physicians justified their approach by referencing gendered cultural norms, with 84.6 percent of respondents stating that the average Nigerian man will not accept vasectomy. Another 15.4 percent of respondents in this study said they did not have the requisite skill to perform a vasectomy.
In two studies, men (ranging from 7 to 66.2% respectively) suggested that lack of access to family planning clinics in general is a barrier to their acceptance and use of vasectomy (Desmennu et al., 2016; Onasoga et al., 2013). A review of four key national policies, including National Task shifting Policies, the National FP Blueprint and the National Communication Plan on family planning, and the most recent 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), reveals that there is a culture of silence on vasectomy in Nigeria. These documents are devoid of any mention of vasectomy or male sterilization as a family planning method. Vasectomy is considered a specialist service in Nigeria, requiring referral from a lower health facility to a higher facility (Shattuck et. al. 2016). Despite the fact that the DHS (2019) contained questions on vasectomy uptake, the authors do not actually report on vasectomy data. National family planning policies also do not provide guidelines for vasectomy counselling or service provision and there is no reference to the need or opportunity for health workers to scale up their capacity to provide vasectomy. Training manuals on family planning including several at the secondary and tertiary levels, remain focused on improving services for female methods.
Table 2
List of grey literature reviewed
FHI | https://www.fhi360.org/resource/promoting-evidence-based-vasectomy-programming |
Planned Parenthood | https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control/vasectomy |
Maries Stopes | https://www.mariestopes.org.au/contraception/vasectomy/ |
UN-DESA: Global Contraceptive Trend 2015 | https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/files/documents/2020/Jan/un_2019_contraceptiveusebymethod_databooklet.pdf |
UN-DESA: Global Contraceptive Trend 2019 | https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/undesa_pd_report_2015_trends_contraceptive_use.pdf |
The National Family Planning Communication Plan guide all family planning related health promotion activity in the country. | https://www.health.gov.ng/doc/national%20family%20planning%20communication%20plan%202017%20(revised).pdf |
Nigeria task shifting/task policy devolves skilled birth attendance to lower level healthworkers to address the shortage of healthworkers at the PHCs. | https://www.health.gov.ng/doc/TSTS.pdf |
The National Family Planning Blueprint 2014 is the national guide for all family planning service-related activities. | https://health.gov.ng/doc/Nigeria%20FP%20B_print.pdf |
The Nigeria 2020 National Family Planning Blueprint updates the previous plan. This is the latest version and does not mention vasectomy. | https://health.gov.ng/doc/Final-2020-Blueprint.pdf |