PERCEPTION OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF BENIN BENIN-CITY TOWARDS SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES.

ABSTRACT

Over 100 million new STDs, excluding HIV, occur every year among people under 25 years of age, and globally, more than half of subjects newly infected by HIV are young people aged 15–24 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Sexually transmitted infections are common among young people, with approximately 20 million new cases of STIs being reported every year in the United States, of which the majority occurs among people aged between 15 and 24 years. The aim of this study was to assess the Perception of health education from university of Benin, towards STDs, and the objectives included; to assess the knowledge of STDs among undergraduate students, assess the attitude of University of Benin students' towards STDs and to assess the perception  University of Benin students towards STDs. The survey used a descriptive survey design, and a total respondent of 248 were selected to fill the questionnaire. The result of the survey showed that that 97(36%) have good level of knowledge, 129(47%) have fair level of knowledge, while 47(17%). Also, It showed that 61(22%) of respondent have negative perception, while 212(78%) have positive perception of STD. Finally, it showed that 35(12.8%) of respondent have negative attitude, while 238(87.2%) have positive attitude. Government and multinational agencies should make concerted efforts to support health facilities to ensure that optimal information about STDs is available to the public. And a comparative study can be conducted among students from other institutions asides those attending the University of Benin were the recommendation made after the survey was conducted.