Knowledge of Infertility Among Infertile Women in Bauchi, Northern Nigeria

Objectives: To evaluate the knowledge, perception and treatment seeking behaviour of infertile women in Bauchi, northern Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Four hundred and six infertile women were surveyed in two hospitals using a structured questionnaire between July 2013 and June 2014. Results: The ages of the respondents ranged from 19 to 42 years with a mean age of 30.5 years (SD: +/- 5 years). Many (81%) of the respondents had poor knowledge of risk factors for infertility and over 80% believed in supernatural causes. The women who had secondary level of education or higher (4.78, CI: 2.35-9.71, P < 0.001) and those who were employed (3.08, CI: 1.44-6.58, P = 0.04) had significantly better knowledge compared to those who had lower level of education and were unemployed. Almost three-quarters (n = 299, 73.6%) believed that women bear the blame for infertility and 40.4% see it as a reason for the man to take another wife. Half of the women felt the woman alone should seek for treatment and only 28% reported hospital as their site of initial treatment. Most (n = 370, 91%) felt infertility should be given priority in public hospitals and 308 (76%) believed the government should pay for infertility services as done for other reproductive health (RH) services. Conclusion: There is low level of knowledge of infertility among infertile women in Bauchi and women bear the blame for infertility. There is need for initiatives to improve RH education in Bauchi.