Gates Open Research Open Peer Review Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article. RESEARCH ARTICLE Access to contraceptives for adolescents in northern Nigeria – a cross-sectional study from three secondary health facilities in Kaduna metropolis, Kaduna [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review] Audu Alayande , Bahijjatu Bello-Garko , Gregory Umeh , Islamiyat Nuhu 3 United Nations Population Fund, Kaduna, 0234, Nigeria Immunization, World Health Organization, Kaduna, Kaduna, 0234, Nigeria Clinical Sciences, Igbinedon University, Okada, Edo, 0234, Nigeria Abstract In 2015, the United Nations Development Programme Background: (UNDP) noted that countries will need to meet the increasing demand for contraceptives by the over 600 million 15- to 19-year-olds around the world. Although the unmet need for contraception for Women of Child Bearing Age (WCBA) in Nigeria is 12.7%, the value is higher (35.3%) among adolescents aged 15 – 19 years. Additionally, the unmet need for family planning (FP) among WCBA in Kaduna state is 5.8%, with 33.3% of women aged 20-24 years in Kaduna reported to have had a live birth before the age of 18 years. This study sought to evaluate adolescent contraceptive use in three referral health facilities of Kaduna metropolis. This is a descriptive cross-sectional desk review of 5543 FP Methods: clients that attended three referral centers between 2014 and 2016. Data on their age, parity and the use of contraceptives were collected from the clinic registers and analyzed using SPSS 22. The FP client age ranged from 12 to 57 years, of which only 3.6% Results: were adolescent. The annual proportion of adolescent contraceptive users ranged from 3.1 – 4.1%. More than 96% of the adolescents had given birth to at least one child. Around 62% of the adolescents used injectable contraceptives but there was no IUD use reported by any adolescent. The low proportion of adolescent contraceptive users and Conclusions: their limited choice of contraceptive methods, emanating from multiplicity of client and provider bias, calls for innovative interventions to meet the contraceptive needs of adolescents. Keywords Contraceptives, adolescents, method mix, contraceptive access, modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate 1 1 2 3 1 2 3 Reviewer Status AWAITING PEER REVIEW 29 May 2019, :1476 ( First published: 3 ) https://doi.org/10.12688/gatesopenres.12968.1 29 May 2019, :1476 ( Latest published: 3 ) https://doi.org/10.12688/gatesopenres.12968.1 v1 Page 1 of 8 Gates Open Research 2019, 3:1476 Last updated: 29 MAY 2019