Background: Teen pregnancy and abortion phenomena take an ever-growing magnitude in poor countries. Lack of knowledge about reproductive health could aggravate these problems.
Methods: Across-sectional survey has been conducted in public, private and denominational high schools of the urban district of Antananarivo, Madagascar, on a sample of 248 students during schoolyear 2012-2013. Data was collected during the third quarter of the schoolyear.
Results: Good knowledge about pregnancy and abortion was found in 14.5%, 95% CI [10.4% -19.5%] of students. The media represent almost 60% of the sources of information. Access to care is limited in 48% of cases by feeling shame. Nearly 11% would resort to abortion if an unplanned pregnancy happens. Nearly 6.5%, 95% CI [3.6% - 10.3%] had teen pregnancy problems: 9.6% of boys and 4.1% of girls came encountered these and all cases have ended in induced abortion among girls. The students from the denominational schools and the female gender have more knowledge of about sexuality. The level of knowledge does not significantly influence pregnancy. Female students (p = 0.07) are less prone to teen pregnancy, whereas dating a fixed boyfriend (p
Key words: teen pregnancy, abortion, knowledge, attitude, high school Article Language: Turkish English
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