Publication:

Study of the knowledge regarding reproductive health among the second PUC students from the colleges of Bangalore city

Background According to an analysis by the World Bank and WHO, reproductive ill-health accounts for over 30% of the overall burden of disease and disability among women, compared with 12% for men. Reproductive health of adolescent girls is crucial since it determines the health of future generations to come. With this in background we conducted a study to find out the difference in the knowledge among the science and the non-science students and to find the relationship between the knowledge scores regarding the reproductive health with respect to select variables.

Methods A cross sectional study was done during July 2004 and January 2005, on 600 girl students (300 each from science and non-science stream) using a pre validated self administered questionnaire amongst II PUC students.

Results 68% science students knew that RTIs can be caused by unhygienic conditions, bacterial infections, STDs and unsafe abortions when compared to only 28% non-science students who knew the cause of RTIs. 64% Science students knew that the predominant routes of HIV transmission is unsafe sex, unsterilized instruments, contaminated blood transfusion, infected mother to child as compared to only 42% non-science students.74% science students knew that STDs can be prevented by use of condoms as compared to only 44.3% non-science students.

Conclusions The science students were found to be more knowledgeable than the non-science students.