Abstract
Background: Globally, over 40 million people are estimated to be living with sexually transmitted infection/diseases (STI/Ds), including HIV/AIDS. It is said that sub-Saharan Africa accounts for over a half of that figure, making it the continent most affected with HIV/AIDS and other STI/Ds. This study was designed and conducted to assess the knowledge and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases, and factors that are associated with it, among female students of a university in southern Nigeria. Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among female students in five faculties in the University of Benin, Benin City. The instrument used for the collection of data was a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed with the aid of SPSS, version 22.0. A level of significance was set at p < 0.05 and descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. An odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval for prevalence and factors associated with STI/Ds was computed using binary and multinomial logistic regression models. Results: A total of 423 female students participated in the study. Over half (224, 53.0%) of the participants have had sexual intercourse. The results show that majority of the respondents (95.3%) were aware of STIs and 83.1% had good knowledge of STIs. The prevalence of STI/Ds among the participants was 27.7%, with gonorrhea being the most frequent STI/D that the respondents reported testing positive for. Conclusion: The present study was able to ascertain a higher prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases among female students. To this end, it is imperative that families and agencies (both government and private agencies) should synergize to remove the embargo seemingly placed on women by our cultures and faith-based institutions regarding sexuality. This may help to improve access to sexual and reproductive health education and commodities for women, thereby play a vital role in reducing the transmission of STI/Ds.
Highlights
For knowledge of human immune virus (HIV)/AIDS and other STIs, we considered whether the respondents had heard about STIs and HIV/AIDS, the STIs that were known to respondents, routes of their transmissions, and knowledge of their HIV status and that of their sexual partners
The high level of knowledge from this study shows that the health education and awareness effort on STIs including HIV/AIDS being carried out by health facilities, government agencies, and NGOs are yielding a positive outcome among young people; these efforts should be continued
The majority of the respondents were aware of STIs and had a good knowledge score of STIs and HIV/AIDS
Summary
Transmitted infections (STIs) can be curable or incurable, but are most often modifiable diseases or infections which are mainly contracted through unprotected sexual intercourse. The curable STIs include syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia, while the incurable but modifiable STIs include human papilloma virus (HPV), hepatitis B, human immune virus (HIV) and herpes simplex [1,2]. According to WHO, 20% of people living with human immune virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) are in their second decade of life and, each year, one out of every twenty young people contract an STI [1]. Indulging in unprotected sexual intercourse suggests a high-risk predisposition to unintended and unwanted pregnancies and STIs, including AIDS, among adolescents and young people. 33.3 million people are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS
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