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ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND University of Benin has a healthcare center that provides quality and affordable healthcare services to all students of the institution. The aim of the health center is to provide prompt and quality treatment, laboratory services among others. The management of the University has tried to see to it that a functional health center is made always available, yet many students still preferred to patronize other health facilities. OBJECTIVE This work is aimed at assessing the level of awareness, utilization and its associated factors including the availability of services at health center which can aid in the improvement of service delivery. METHOD A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. Data was gathered using a selfadministered questionnaire. A total sample size of 411 students was considered for this study. A multi-stage sampling using simple random by balloting technique was applied. The univariate, bivariate tables and regression were constructed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 27) computer software. Chi-square test was performed at 0.05 level of significance. RESULTS There was good level of awareness in majority of respondents. Services and facilities were adequately available. Level of utilization was poor. Lack of essential drugs, long waiting time and lack of prompt attention were identified as reasons for poor utilization of health services. There was good level of satisfaction. DISCUSSION Findings from this study suggest that majority of students have good awareness of the University health center and the services provided, though their level of utilization is poor. The main source of health information for students was the school, followed by friends. Majority of students fell under the age of 22 years and were predominantly males. Female students had higher chances of utilizing the health center than males. Students from medical faculties were found to utilize the health center more than other faculties with the least being students from Law faculty. Utilization of the health center was seen to be hindered by low level of students' registration, as half had problems with registration and others reported poor attitude of the health workers, unavailability of essential drugs and time wasting at the health center. Both parents were the main source of income and students with low income tend to utilize the health center less. CONCLUSION To increase the wellbeing and health of students, it is necessary to strengthen awareness, make students' registration process less cumbersome, improve on provision of essential drugs and advocate for better patient-doctor relationship, so as to promote satisfaction with services provided and improve utilization.
