SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS

This study investigated the level of awareness and prevention practices regarding Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) among female undergraduates in the Faculty of Education, University of Benin. A descriptive survey design was employed, utilizing a structured questionnaire administered to measure awareness levels, knowledge of specific infections, and the uptake of preventive behaviors. The findings revealed that the overall STI awareness was moderate, with 45% of students demonstrating good awareness, 35% fair awareness, and 20% poor awareness. While knowledge of prominent infections like HIV/AIDS and gonorrhea was high, significant gaps existed concerning chlamydia, syphilis, and the nature of asymptomatic infection. Furthermore, the translation of awareness into consistent preventive practice was suboptimal: only 30% of sexually active respondents reported consistent condom use, and a mere 30% of all respondents had ever undergone STI testing. Inferential analysis confirmed that awareness significantly predicts preventive practices, indicating that students with higher awareness are more likely to engage in protective behaviors. Barriers such as stigma, limited access to youth-friendly health services, and reliance on unreliable information sources (peers and social media) were identified as major factors inhibiting the consistent
application of safe practices. The study concludes that although awareness exists, it is insufficient to guarantee optimal prevention. It is recommended that the university health services strengthen targeted campaigns to cover lesser-known STIs, integrate reproductive health education into the curriculum, and establish confidential, youth-friendly health services to improve testing and vaccination uptake.

This study examined sexual behavioural patterns and sexually transmitted infections among young adults in Edo South senatorial district of Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to ascertain the age at first sexual intercourse of the young population ages 10-24 years, ascertain if any association exists between young population age at first sexual intercourse and religious belief, ascertain incidence of contract of sexually transmitted infections by the young adult population, observe the “health seeking’’ behavior of young adult population when infected with these sexually transmitted infections, and ascertain the extent of young adult population knowledge of HIV/AIDS’ transmission. A sample size of 800 was used for this study. The sample size were chosen bearing in mind the time, finance and feasibility of the study. Out of the 800 questionnaires that were sent out for the study, about 783 were fully completed. Information gathered from the questionnaire was coded and recorded on the spreadsheets. From here they were fielded into the computer for statistical analysis using the SPSS computer software. In all percentages and proportions, pie and bar charts were used for data interpretation. The
chi-square test of significance and F-ratio were used to test the hypotheses. Findings from the study reveals that a greater number of youth of ages (10-24) years of both sexes are engaged in schooling activities. The population of the youth increases with age. The youth comprises slightly more males than females. That they are more engaged at school indicates rising age at marriage. Thus there is reduced likelihood of early marriages and associated consequences. The full embrace of education by youth is of benefit to the individuals as well as to the Nation in thence of skilled man power development. The study then recommended that preventive programs should focus on developing positive attitude toward infected persons in a way that they are not discriminated against, reproductive health information, including STDs should be included in university curriculum in order to enhance student knowledge and attitude regarding STDs prevention, free HIV testing should be inculcated into the undergraduate students my management in order to be able to receive HIV testing without financial burden. This action may increase the rate of HIV testing among the student population and in turn reduce rates of transmission. It was also recommended that students’ sources of information should be increased in terms of mass media and health education regarding the spread of STDs on campus, and STDs prevention programme should be developed
and implemented by the university to promote changes in attitude in order to prevent the spread of STDs