Assessing the knowledge and attitudes associated with abortion among female students at the University of Lusaka

Abstract

Abortion is an issue of public health concern as there are millions of induced abortions being recorded each year globally. The biggest problem about abortion is that most of them are unsafe and they contribute to 13% of maternal related deaths worldwide. There have been efforts to address unsafe abortion such as the introduction of comprehensive abortion care by the World Health organization, however, there is still a large number of women who resort to unsafe abortion due to different factors. In Zambia, abortion was legalized under the termination of pregnancy (TOP) act but despite this intervention, comprehensive abortion care remains inaccessible to most women in Zambia. To assess the knowledge and attitudes associated to abortion among female students at the University of Lusaka. This was a qualitative study conducted at the University of Lusaka, Leopards hill campus and convenience sampling was used to select the sample. Data collection was done by carrying out in-depth interviews and thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results of the study indicate that female students the University of Lusaka have sufficient and good knowledge on the causes of abortion and the consequences of unsafe abortion. The results revealed that most of the female students had adequate knowledge on the legality of abortion in Zambia and that they have a positive attitude towards safe abortion. The factors in the conceptual framework that were associated to the knowledge and attitudes that one would have towards abortion were discussed and they include age, level of education and religion. The results of the study indicate that knowledge and attitudes towards abortion were related to age, level of education and religion.