Abstract

Background: World Health Organization defines adolescence as the period of life between 10 - 19 years of age. In,India they represent over 1/5th of total population. A large number of them aren’t aware about the knowledge regarding,reproductive health, contraception, HIV/AIDS etc. These factors have serious social, economic & public health implications.,According to study conducted by UNESCO, Sexually Transmitted Diseases are a major health problem among,adolescence, especially in Asia. The risk increases if they lack the knowledge & are unaware about different aspects of,reproductive health. Hence it was decided to conduct a study in this issue, to assess the knowledge about various aspects,related to reproductive health among school going adolescents in Surendranagar city.,Objectives: To determine the level of knowledge regarding various aspects of reproductive health among school going,adolescent boys & to correlate the findings with their various socio-demographic factors.,Materials & Methods: After enlisting all the schools of Surendranagar city, 2 govt. & 2 non govt. schools were selected,by simple random sampling. All the boys of standard 10th & 11th of selected schools present on the day of study were,included. Final sample size was 268. The information was gathered by using a pre tested, semi-structured self-administered,questionnaire.,
Results: Majority (62%) knew the changes occurring during puberty, 67% knew about family planning methods, 77%,knew about STDs and its transmission. There was a significant difference in awareness regarding family planning & STDs,amongst the students of govt. (77.34% & 80.47%) & non-govt. (55.71% & 71.43%) school respectively. The study showed,lack of awareness regarding Adolescent Friendly Clinic (25%) & only 13% had visited among the study group. Friends,(64.34%) & teachers (58.19%) appeared as a leading source of information regarding reproductive health awareness.,Most of the students (70.02%) knew that treatment of HIV/AIDS is possible.,Conclusion: Awareness about adolescent friendly clinic needs to be improved through various means. There is a need,for appropriate information, education and communication strategies for increasing awareness about family planning and,STDs among the students of non-govt. schools.