ASSESSMENT OF LEVEL OF KNWLEDGE OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND SEXUAL BEHAVIOR AMONG PREPARTORY STUDENTS AT BAMBASI HIGH SCHOOL, ASSOSA, BENSHANGUL GUMUZ REGION

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Reproductive health (RH) is defined as” A state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters related to the reproductive system and to its functions and process”. Young people make up over one quarter of the world’s population. Among those, 1.4 Billion young people live in developing countries today. In order to lead a healthy, responsible & fulfilling lives & protect themselves from reproductive health problems youngsters need to be knowledgeable about themselves & need adequate information about the physical, psychological changes that take place during puberty, menstruation, pregnancy & child birth. Objective: To assess the level of knowledge of reproductive health and sexual behavior among Bambasi high school students Methodology: The study was conducted in in Bambassi Preparatory School in Benishangul Gumuz. Bambassi is one of the largest Woredas in B/Gumuz. Bambassi town is 621 Km west of the capital Addis Ababa and 45 km east of the regional city Assosa. Study Design: A cross sectional study was carried out using a self-Administered structured questionnaire. Study Area: Bambassi preparatory school, Benishangul Gumuz, Western Ethiopia Source population: All Bambassi preparatory Students are considered Source population Study population: Bambassi preparatory students selected from source population by simple random sampling technique from each batch based on their proportion. Sample Size:89 Sampling Technique: A simple random sampling technique was used. There were 3 classes of grade 11 and 12 each. From each classes assigned one person who facilitate the data collection. The first respondent was gained by lottery method then continue regularly. Data Processing and Analysis: Version 20 SPSS was used Result A total of 89 preparatory students were identified to participate in this study. The mean age of the respondents is 18 years. Nearly 66.0% of them knew about RH. (97.0%) out of adolescents mentioned diseases that a person could acquire through sexual intercourse. A substantial proportion (44.2%) of the adolescents can be considered knowledgeable about STI. 18.0% of them were sexually active and the mean age at sexual commencement was 14.48 (+ 2.89 SD) years for males and 14.86 (+ 2.19 SD) for females. gender, ever visit of health institution, accessibility of RH services and being sexually active were found to have significant association with adolescents’ HIV/ AIDS knowledge. Conclusion. Most of the respondents have heard RH and knew correctly the components of RH. School teachers, health professionals and mass media are found to be the major sources of information for adolescent RH. Majorities have ever heard of HIV/AIDS