Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices of sexual and reproductive health of young adults living in Buwekula Parish, Jinja City.
Abstract
Background: Young adults are one of the biggest growing populations among developing countries therefore Improving their sexual and reproductive health is one of the primary aims of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adequate and accurate knowledge, a favorable attitude, safe behavior, and good practice contribute to SRH, maternal health, and child health, failure of which leads to risks and consequences such as HIV infections, acquisition of STIs, unintended pregnancy, mortality and many other risks and consequences. The study was aimed at exploring the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of SRH among young adults of Buwekula parish, Jinja district.
Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of young adults towards sexual and reproductive health. A proportionate simple random sampling technique was used to select 250 participants for this study from whom quantitative data was collected. The Quantitative data was entered using Epi Data version 3.1 and then exported to STRATA version 13 and Microsoft Excel for analysis. These statistical soft wares were used to generate graphs and pie charts for presentation of results.
Conclusion: Majority of the young adults have to either give birth or carry out an abortion after their first sexual experience and many of the young adults that are not yet sexually active have misconception, poor knowledge on either STIs, HIV/AIDS or contraceptives. Therefore, to reduce teenage pregnancies, STI and HIV prevalence among young adults, school going children between the age of 14- 20 should be put into consideration by giving them adequate information regarding SRH and also having a young adult clinic per two parishes to cater for the needs of the young adults.