AWARENESS

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.

Background/Purpose: Sports injuries are common among football players and can negatively impact performance and participation. Injury-prevention strategies such as warm-up routines, strength training, and flexibility exercises are proven to reduce injury risk, yet their application among amateur players in Nigerian universities remains unclear. This study assessed the level of awareness and practice of sports injury prevention strategies among amateur football players in
the University of Benin.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted. A structured, self-administered
questionnaire adapted from a previous study was distributed to 298 amateur football players selected through consecutive sampling. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including frequency distributions and Chi-square tests to determine associations between socio-demographic variables and prevention practices, with a significance level set at p< 0.05.
Results: Findings revealed that most participants were males (60.4%) aged 18–25 years. General warm-up programme was commonly performed three to five times weekly (15.4% each), while 17.4% reported no participation. Flexibility and strength training were the most commonly practiced preventive measures, while the FIFA 11+ programme was infrequently used. No
significant association was found between age and practice of injury-prevention strategies (p >
0.05). However, male players showed higher engagement in general warm-up (x2= 14.088, p = 0.029), and specific prevention (x2= 15.163, p = 0.019) routines compared to females. Playing position was not significantly associated with either awareness or practice of injury-prevention strategies (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: Amateur football players at the University of Benin demonstrated moderate awareness and practice of injury-prevention strategies. Despite recognizing the importance of prevention, adherence to structured programmes remained low. There is a need for enhanced education, structured preventive training, and improved access to physiotherapy services to promote safer participation in university football.