KNOWLEDGE, BELIEF AND RISK FACTORS FOR VAGINITIS AMONG FEMALE UNDERGRADUATES OF ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO

Vaginitis is the most common reproductive tract infectious disease in women of reproductive age and a diverse spectrum of pathogenic organisms are involved. However, there is dearth of empirical data on the knowledge and beliefs of women towards vaginitis and its risk factors and treatment. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, belief and risk factors for vaginitis among female undergraduates of Achievers University, Owo. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional research design. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 348 female undergraduates of Achievers University, Owo. A set of questionnaires adapted from the review of literatures having the same objectives as this current study was used as instrument for data collection. Data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistic and the result were presented in frequency tables and charts. The study showed that the mean age of the respondents was 19±3.65 years and less than half (45.5%) of them were within the age range of 15-19 years. The study further revealed a 65.5% prevalence of vaginitis among the female undergraduates, a little more than half (52.7%) of the female undergraduates had high level of knowledge of vaginitis, majority (68.1%) had Good beliefs towards vaginitis; and risk factors such as high intake of sugary foods (42.6%), previous history of sexually transmitted disease (35.1%), practice frequent douching (30.4%), cleaning of reproductive organ with soap (22.3%), and use of oral contraceptive (21.4%) were identified among the female undergraduate students. There was a significant relationship (p= 0.011) between knowledge and beliefs towards vaginitis among the female undergraduate students. In addition, there was also a significant association between age and beliefs towards vaginitis (p= 0.036); age and knowledge of vaginitis (p= 0.012) among the female undergraduate students.