ABSTRACT
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are responsible for a variety of health problems especially among the youth who engage in risky sexual behaviour. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge of predisposing factors to sexually transmitted infections among secondary school students in Awka, Anambra state. The study was a school based descriptive cross-sectional design in which structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics, knowledge on risk factors, the preventive and control measures of sexually transmitted infections. Three hundred students from three secondary schools (senior secondary school sections) were purposively selected for the study using the multistage random sampling method. Data collected for this study was edited, coded and entered into the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Univariate analysis (frequencies and percentages) was done and Chi-squared test was the statistical test used for determining the significance association in the study. For the laboratory analysis of sexually transmitted infections using urine samples, the age group that had the highest prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infections was between 20-21years with 71 (43.8%) while the least was 14-15years with 8(4.9%), the three most important sources of information being school teachers (49%), Television/Radio (12.7%) and Newspaper/Magazine (7.7%). Ninety two of the respondents heard about Sexually Transmitted Infections and the two most commonly mentioned ones were HIV/AIDS (83.3%) and Gonorrhoea (11.0%). The most important signs/symptoms of STIs mentioned were rashes on the body (43.30%), lower abdominal pain (36.70%), smelling vaginal discharge (7%) and wounds/sores in private parts (6.7%). 77% of the respondents do inform their parents of any signs when noticed on their body while 36.7% did nothing when they noticed any of the signs of STIs. The findings showed that the secondary school students in Awka had a knowledge of predisposing factors to Sexually Transmitted Infections, notwithstanding, the secondary school students should be educated more on the other types of sexually transmitted infections apart from HIV/AIDS in order to reduce the effects of STIs to the lowest minimum. The researcher made recommendations that would be used to prevent, control and enlighten the students on the risk of contracting Sexually Transmitted Infections.
