Rising STDs Among Youth: Causes and Preventive Methods

This essay assignment focuses on the growing concern of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among young people. The writer is required to express their feelings and views on what might be causing this trend and propose possible preventive measures. The discussion may involve various factors such as lack of awareness, poor sexual education, increasing peer pressure, and the rise of social media's influence on youth behavior. Effective prevention methods might include comprehensive sex education programs, increased access to STD testing and treatment services, promoting healthy relationships and communication among young people, and using digital platforms to raise awareness about STDs.

Running head: SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 1
Thesis paper
Knowledge and perception of young people about sexual transmitted diseases
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institute of Affiliation
Date

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 2
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................6
2.1 Gonorrhea...............................................................................................................................8
2.2 Genital herpes........................................................................................................................9
2.3 Syphilis.................................................................................................................................10
2.4 HIV/AIDS............................................................................................................................12
2.5 Chlamydia............................................................................................................................14
2.6 Human papilloma virus........................................................................................................15
The aim and objective of the study............................................................................................16
Thesis questions.........................................................................................................................16
METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................................17
RESULTS......................................................................................................................................19
DISCUSSION................................................................................................................................20
STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS............................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................23
Appendix........................................................................................................................................29

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 3
ABSTRACT
The problem of rapid spread of different sexually transmitted diseases among the youth is
a concern in many parts of the world. Health care personnel continue to do some research on
different STDs and what can be done to prevent them from spreading. A lot of attention has been
given to the research on HIV/AIDS forget the effects and the impact of other STIs to the young
people and the entire society. This study was conducted in Washington DC and Maryland to
know the amount of knowledge the young people had on different STDs. The data collected
would then be used by medical practitioners to strategize on the best methods to reach the youth
and given then information about some uncommon but very dangerous STDs.
In this paper six sexual transmitted diseases are discussed in details to give insight of
what happens when one if infected with any of the infections. Both quantitative and qualitative
methods of research were used to collect data from the participants. The questionnaires were
used to test the knowledge of individuals on STIs while the qualitative question required on to
give their opinions on different issues in regard to STDs.

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 4
INTRODUCTION
Sexually transmitted diseases can also be abbreviated as STDs or STIs. The diseases are
transmitted by viruses, protozoa and the bacteria. Sexual intercourse is the main cause of the
diseases in many cases. Other methods of transmission include the oral sex, few cases in body
organ transplant and unscreened blood transfusion. The venereal disease is another name that can
be used when referring sexually transmitted diseases (Chesson et al 2014).
Perception can be defined as something detected by the five senses of human or a state of
conscious understanding of something. Knowledge is an awareness of a specific factor a
condition. The knowledge can as well be defined as a state of having been informed or made
aware of something. The researcher was interested to know the cause of an increase of sexually
transmitted infections among the young generation (Jones et al 2014). The statics provided by
united nations and Aids showed that about one million young people transmit STDs in each and
every year,
By the end of research, the researcher expects to know why sexually transmitted diseases are
spread at the high rate, by investigating the knowledge and perception of young people in
relation to STDs.The information collected from this research can be used by social health
organization and public health in countering the diseases. The healthy educators can as well use
the information to create awareness to young people (Alexander et al 2018).
The data collection was done by filling of a short questionnaire in one of the clinics in
Washington DC and another in Maryland. Sexually transmitted diseases today are spreading at
the high rate because many people are getting more sexually agile especially among young
people (Carter et al 2014). The other cause is the practice of sex with more than one partner

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 5
among the married people. In the quantitative methodology, patients in one of the in clinics were
given a questionnaire with 10 simple question to test their knowledge on STIs. In qualitative
methodology, the same patients were to answer a single simple question inform of an essay on
their perception and attitudes towards STIs (Drainoni et al 2014).

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 6
LITERATURE REVIEW
Sexually transmitted diseases are one of the major problems that have affected many
youths globally. This has been contributed to by the insufficient knowledge the young people
have about the STDs. Young adults have a common ignorance and disbelieve about the dangers
and consequences of sexually transmitted infections (Llata et al 2014). The problem comes
because these sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have comparable symptoms and that makes
them difficult to notice (Muzny et al 2014). The signs and symptoms rarely do appear to an
infected person, so it is easy to spread the disease without knowing if one is infected with the
disease. Another factor that has contributed to the spread of the diseases is the insufficient
medical institutions that offer the STIs tests. Private medical institutions are expensive and this
limits youth's interest for tests. Adequate understanding of STIs to the youths is still low in both
developing and developed countries. All other STIs create a high prevalence of contracting
HIV/AID, because of their predisposed sex organs due to damage caused by other sexually
transmitted diseases. All STIs are transmitted through either virginal, anal or oral sex. About
60% to 80% of youth who have knowledge of HIV/AIDS have inadequate knowledge about
other sexually transmitted diseases (Oster et al 2014).
According to recent reports Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015) the
survey, about 20 million STDs occur in the United States. More than 498 million cases of STDs
occur worldwide every year. The involved population that shown better understanding of STIs
said they have acquired knowledge about STIs through media, internet, television, brochures and
education through public awareness. Casual sex workers have been known to be the most rated

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 7
group that spread the STIs at a higher rate. These are the workers that use seductive sexy
behaviour for money (Liu et al 2015). Long distance travellers are known to engage in such
activities hence about 20% of the spread of these STIs are through casual sex activities.
Unprotected sex has remained at the top of the ways of spreading the STIs (Flagg et al 2015). In
some African countries like Nigeria, cultural and religious activities have greatly influenced the
mass education of young people about STDs. Islamic religion in Nigeria, it's a taboo talking
about sex with young people. A survey carried out in Albania in the year 2002 showed that large
percentage of men had insufficient knowledge on STIs than women (O'Leary et al 2015).
Among the religious background of the young people, the study showed that youth from Islamic
religion had poorer knowledge about STIs as compared to youth from (Christians et al 2014).
These studies showed that generally there is a lot to be done on the young generations
towards educating them about sexually transmitted diseases. Among the infections involved in
the study include; gonorrhoea, syphilis, human papillomavirus, genital herpes, chlamydia and
HIV/AIDS (Moodley et al 2015).
2.1 Gonorrhea
Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted disease that has been found to affect many of the youth
across the world. The causative agent of gonorrhoea is Bacterium gonorrhoea (Park et al 2015).
Many symptoms of this disease are not displayed in majority of the people who have the
infection. Though a few symptoms appear. For instance, in women, there is vaginal discharge
and lower abdominal pain (Workowski & Bolan,2015). Men do experience pain during sexual
intercourse due to the penile urethra, pain while urinating and penis discharge. In both men and
women, one can acquire throat gonorrhoea if he/she practices oral sex with an infected person.
The symptoms of throat gonorrhoea are very rare in some cases (Llata et al 2015). The most

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 8
common symptom that may appear is a sore in the throat. About 90% of the infected people do
not show symptoms. Tiredness and bacterial allergic reaction are among the advanced symptoms
of gonorrhoea. The incubation period of gonorrhoea is 2 to 14 days and most symptoms are
experienced between 4 and 6 days from the day of infection. These symptoms may appear on the
skin as lesions, pain and swelling of joints as the disease travels through the bloodstream. This
disease can go deeper and if not treated early may develop to prostate cancer. There is re-
infection whereby somebody who is infected comes into sexual contact with another infected
person. Due to lack of outer or displayed symptoms, an infected person may infect others
repeatedly without his/her knowledge. The percentage risk of a man getting infected after having
sex with an infected woman is 20% while that of a woman getting infected after having sex with
the infected man is 60% to 80%. This percentage is prone to the young people (Bollerup et al
2016).
The diagnosis of this disease should be taken from samples of vaginal discharge, urine or
urethral fluids for screening and testing of the infection. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is
used to identify the specific gene of species Neisseria gonorrhoea. People who test positive for
gonorrhoea are most likely to contract other sexually transmitted diseases (STSs) such as
chlamydia syphilis and human papillomavirus (Davey et al 2016). Recent researchers have
shown that 46% to 50% of young people who have chlamydia are likely to have gonorrhoea. The
risk of contracting gonorrhoea has a high preference for women of 25 years and below. Men who
have sex with other men have high chances of contracting gonorrhoea. Many youths have the
ignorance of using condoms during sexual intercourse and this has contributed to the high rate of
the spread of the disease. Many of these young men and women include those who have sex for
money and those who have sex under influence of drugs like alcohol (Friedman et al 2016).

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 9
These immoral behaviours are prone to young and middle-aged people. Another factor that has
contributed to the spread of the disease is shyness and fear of embarrassment among the youth
age-group. To cover this issue of stigmatization in the societies, a need of more education on
morals, risk, consequences and the importance of having the test and knowing one's status is the
best ways of fighting these sexually transmitted diseases (Hogben et al 2016).
2.2 Genital herpes
Genital herpes is one of the sexually transmitted diseases that is caused by two types of viruses.
These two types of viruses are; herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) type1, herpes simplex virus (HSV-
2) type 2. The symptoms of this disease are very rare and this enhances high chances of
spreading the infection. HSV-1 causes oral herpes and the symptoms may appear in the mouth as
blisters and cold sores. Most people with oral herpes are likely to have the infection with at their
childhood age and early adulthood probably from non-sexual fluid contact like saliva. The
relationship between genital and oral herpes is HSV-1 can be transmitted from the mouth to the
genitals through oral sex. Genital herpes is very common in the United States especially
Washington state whereby out of six people more than one among those aged 15 to 50 years are
infected (Jordan,2016).
This disease is spread from one person to another through anal, vaginal or oral sex organs and
contact with an infected person. For the contact to be effective, there should be a predisposed due
to some sore in genitals, through the saliva or through the skin of an infected person. Contact
with objects like towels, silverware, soaps or sharing toilet seats, swimming pools or bedclothes
one cannot get infected with genital herpes. The most probable way in which a child can get
infected with genital herpes is during delivery. This is dangerous to the baby as it may cause a
fatal infection. Pregnant mothers are given antibiotics in hospitals once discovered to have

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 10
genital herpes to save the baby from contracting the disease. It is important for pregnant mothers
to attend clinics and request for genital herpes test since dangers that genital herpes may cause to
the infant can result in miscarriages (Krieger et al 2016).
Some of the signs and symptoms of STIs are mild and general hence not easy for someone to
know which is which unless a test is done by a qualified medical officer. Symptoms of genital
herpes include; fever, glands swell up and body pain. The outbreak of the symptoms at the
second time is short and not as severe as those of the first time of infection. The disease can stay
in your body throughout your life. It has no cure but there is medicine for prevention or for
shortening the outbreaks. The young generation of youth and middle-aged should be educated on
dangers of having unprotected sex to avoid the random spread of this infection. This disease is
severe to the people of compromised immune systems. The infected with this disease should be
aware they are more predisposed to HIV/AIDS infection and both have no permanent cure (Ward
et al 2016).
2.3 Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection.it is caused by a bacterium called Treponema
palladium. There are four stages in which their signs and symptoms vary. They include primary,
secondary, latent and tertiary stages. Though the disease is transmitted through sex, it can be
transmitted from the mother to the baby during birth or during pregnancy. This is called
congenital syphilis (Dean et al 2017).
The first sign of syphilis is some painless sores called chancre that appear on the genital
organs or the mouth. One may be infected with syphilis for years without showing any signs and
symptoms. If untreated for long it can cause damage to somebody organs like the brain and the

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 11
heart.it is spread through direct contact with the syphilis chancres. The primary stage occurs 3-4
weeks after the infection. It begins with a small painless sore that appears where the syphilis
bacteria got into contact with the body e.g. rectum, genitals or the mouth.
During the second stage, sore throat and skin rashes may develop. The rashes are mostly found in
the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands but they may appear anywhere in the body. These
rashes normally don't itch. During the secondary stage, an individual may also experience
headaches, fatigue, fever, swollen lymph nodes, hair loss etc. As time goes on these symptoms
disappear with or without treatment though the disease still remains present in the body (Duncan
et al 2017).
Latent stage is the third stage of syphilis.it is also called the hidden stage. Both the
primary and secondary symptoms disappear and there are no more noticeable symptoms at this
stage though the bacteria is still in the body. Latent stage can last for months or even years
before the infection develops to the tertiary stage.
The last stage of syphilis infection is the tertiary stage.it occurs years after contracting the
infection. Tertiary syphilis can easily cause death, deafness, memory loss, blindness, heart
disease, mental illness and neurosyphilis which affects the brain or the spinal cord. In the year
2015, approximately 45.4 million people had syphilis infection around the globe. Six million of
these were the newly reported cases .in the same year syphilis caused an around of 107000
deaths.
A study conducted in china involving 3470 participants revealed that college students
were less aware of syphilis infection. The college students had very little knowledge of syphilis
compared to all other groups that took part in the study the study also revealed that the young

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 12
female participant with small levels of education had very little knowledge about syphilis. Lack
of knowledge of the infection has in a very great way influenced the rate at which the disease has
been spreading among the young people (Kreise et al 2017).
2.4 HIV/AIDS
HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. it causes AIDS which stands for acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome. The virus affects the immune system by destroying the white
blood cells which fight any infection that tries to get into the body. This makes people vulnerable
to diseases and infections. HIV attacks all the tissues in the body.it is found and transmitted
through the body fluids of an infected person. (Blood, virginal fluids, semen etc.) It can also be
transmitted from the mother to child through breastfeeding or during childbirth.
Some people who are infected with HIV do not show symptoms for some time until after
a couple of months or years. After the initial infection, the early symptoms of the HIV infection
may include joint pain, muscle aches, sore throat, chills fever, enlarged glands, general body
weakness, tiredness etc.in most cases these symptoms appear when the body is dealing with
different types of viruses and infections. After the disappearance of the initial symptoms, there
may not be any other symptoms for a number of years. At this time the virus continues to
increase and damage the body organ and the entire immune system (Pathela et al 2015). In case
HIV is left untreated, it destabilizes the ability of the body to fight infection. This is called the
stage 3 HIV or AIDS stage. The symptoms of this stage include persistent diarrhoea, blurred
vision, night sweats, dyspnea, and permanent tiredness, rapid weight loss, spots on the tongue or
mouth.

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 13
AIDS is treated by blood tests which show the presence of HIV in the body. HIV is
incurable and with no vaccines against it but medical practitioners have had great advancements
in its treatment. The development of antiretroviral drugs that control the development of the
virus hence delaying the aids stages. This helps people with HIV to be free of many symptoms
for a prolonged period. Another advancement is the invention of drugs that lower the risk of HIV
transmission from an infected mother to a baby.
A study in China by Manchester indicated that more than 93%of the city residents and
over 83%of the people residing in small towns had heard about HIV/AIDS.62%of the residents
in small towns as compared to 73%of city residents were knowledgeable of the main ways of
transmission .i.e. body fluids, sex and blood.only23%of the small town residents and 31%of the
city residents felt that condoms can protect them from HIV infection.27%of men compared to
19%of women felt the need of using the condom as a protective measure. There was a positive
attitude towards spending time and money in order to acquire more information and knowledge
about HIV/AIDS. Though there is high awareness of the disease, residents of the town with high
salaries were actually less knowledgeable on protective measures as compared to those with little
monthly salaries. Very few people were willing and ready to change their risky sexual
behaviours. A good percentage of the participants confessed to having sex with no condoms and
have a number of sex partners. Many of them also believed that maintaining one sex partner was
safe compared to using condoms to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. Most of them had a very
positive attitude towards keeping one sex partner (Kortekangas et al 2014).
2.5 Chlamydia
Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease whose causative agent is Chlamydia
trichromats. Chlamydia has no exposed symptoms. Some of the mild symptoms may take a few

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 14
weeks before they start appearing. These symptoms start to show on your body at late stages
when the disease is severe. In women, the symptoms include, discharge from the vagina and pain
while urinating. In men, there is swelling of testicles, pain while urinating and discharge from the
penis. If not treated at the early stages, chlamydia may result in fatal complications like pelvic
inflammatory and trachoma that cause blindness.
The diagnosis of this disease is done through the collection of samples from vaginal, urethral
discharge, urine or fluid from the cervix for testing. Chlamydia is transmitted from one person to
another through oral, vaginal, and anal sex. It can also be transmitted from mother to child
during delivery. In some areas of low hygiene, the eye infection is spread through personal
contact with an infected person or by flies. The screening and diagnosis of the disease are
recommended at early stages for the sexually active youth. If one is infected he/she should quit
sex activities for at least seven days. Around 70% to 80% cases of women infected with
chlamydia, may not manifest any symptoms for several months or even years. Approximately
50% of men infected with chlamydia do show the symptoms. Further, severe complications in
men result in epididymitis that causes sterility. The world health organization (WHO) has
contributed a lot to ensure elimination of trachoma that causes the eye infection. In young men,
the disease may result in the triad of arthritis, urethra inflammation and conjunctivitis (Stephens
et al 2014).
Many youths have the negative attitude towards STIs tests. Some have fears of their friends
knowing their chlamydia status. Other young adults avoid sites involving such tests due to fear of
their relationship breakages. Some youth feel embarrassed to go for STDs test. There is the need
for motivation and encouragements to the youth to go for STIs testing to know their status. They
should be taught about benefits good health. The young men and women should be educated on

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 15
the dangers of living with the sexually transmitted disease so that they may acquire interest
towards knowing their status. Stigmatization should be avoided in the society. If stigmatization
cases cease in the society and motivation increased, the number of volunteer youths taking the
STIs test will improve. Tutors and lectures should also be encouraged to educate the youths,
especially in the learning institution the need for taking precautions. These activities will give a
relevant way of eliminating and minimizing the cases sexually transmitted disease (Alexander et
al 2018).
2.6 Human papillomavirus
The disease is common in the United State of America. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection
is a sexually transmitted disease that has been noted to have infected about 76 million Americans
in late teens and early 20s. HPV is of several different types of viruses. These viruses have been
found to cause fatal complications in the human health such as cancers and genital warts.
Engaging in unprotected sex either oral, anal and vaginal sex with an infected person is the main
way of spreading the disease. Once one has been infected, symptoms can take years to develop.
HPV condition in the body causes serial problems like genital warts around the genital area.
Diagnosis of warts can be done by observing the genital area. HPV condition can become worse
to an extent of causing cancers to several parts and organs of the body; cervical, vulva, vagina,
penis, anus, throat and also at the base of the tongue and tonsils. There exists a specialization in
the viruses of HPV. The virus that causes genital warts or human papillomavirus is not
responsible for causing HIV/AIDS. People with compromised immune systems are more prone
to HPV. These people include those living with HIV/AIDS whose health is weak (Chernesky et
al 2017).

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 16
There is a vaccine that is safe and effective to protect one from HPV. Young men and women
should be vaccinated to protect them from this disease. It has been found that many youths at
active sex stage try to avoid places that involve education or testing of STDs. This is probably
due to stigma among their fellow youth. Some of the young adults who get tested and turns
positive have self-denial and assume the result. It is the role of the senior adults in the
community to show the youth the importance having self-drive and also self-respect so as to
improve and maintain their good health status. There is need to create awareness to the young
adult about the risk of all sexually transmitted infections in order to maintain the health and to
control the spread of the disease. Frequent encouragement and showing the youths the fatal
effects that are associated with these sexually transmitted infections is a key in trying to reduce
the rate of transmission among them (Schechter et al 2017).
The aim and objective of the study
The main objective of this study was to investigate the knowledge of young people aged 17-30
years about sexually transmitted infections and research on their perceptions towards sexually
transmitted infections.
Thesis questions
1.What knowledge based on young people aged 17-30 years have about sexually transmitted
infections?
2. What perceptions do young people age 17-30 have about sexually transmitted infections?

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 17
METHODOLOGY
The research was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methods of research
in one of the clinics in Washington DC. In the quantitative method of study, the researchers used
questionnaires to get the information and knowledge about sexually transmitted infections from
the participants. The questionnaires provided privacy and the best environment to the
participants to give authentic answers. A total of 10 questions were prepared in questionnaires
and issued to the patients who visited the clinic. The participants aged between 17 to 30 years.
They were required not include their names in the questionnaires but gave their age and sex.
After all the participants had filled the questionnaires and summary of their answers recorded,
the questionnaires were then destroyed. In order to understand the whole data in the quantitative
analysis, the data was broken down into small portions. The data collected was then quantified
through numerical figures. The questionnaires contained closed questions of ‘yes or no' answers.
The number of participants that had given particular answers to different questions was tabulated

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 18
in table A. this eased the analysis of data collected through the questionnaires (Barbee et al
2014).
Qualitative method is majorly focused on the opinions of the participants and their
interpretations, meaning and their perceptions to a certain setting. The researcher's interest is to
get an honest overview of the subject under study. The main objective of using the qualitative
method in the study was to understand the knowledge of the participants through surveying their
altitudes on different sexually transmitted diseases. One essay question was used to allow the
individuals express their views and perception towards different sexually transmitted infections.
This research technique was to objectively evaluate the descriptions of the content by
participants. The concept altitudes and the views of the participants manifested in a great way the
aim of the research. After all the data was gathered from the participants the researchers sat
down discussed it in details. In case something was not clear they had to agree on the best to
approach it. The researchers then came up with one point of view that helped them analyze the
data (Bolan et al 2015).

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 19
RESULTS
According to the data collected from the informant group, all the participants agreed that
sexually transmitted diseases could be spread through vaginal, oral and anal sex. The main way
of transmitting STIs is through having unprotected sex. More than 80% of the participants had
the correct information about different STIs. A larger percentage of the participants shown a
good understanding of diseases like HIV/AIDS, Chlamydia and Gonorrhea compared to diseases
like Human papillomavirus and genital herpes. Most of the participants had a lot of information
about HIV/AIDS than any other infection .out of the fifty youths interviewed, twelve of them
confessed to being HIV/AIDS positive. Seven were found to have been infected with other STDs
at one point in their lives. More than twenty percent of the participants had friends or relatives
who ever suffered at least one of the STDs (Friedman et al 2014).
The researchers also wanted to know how active the youths were sexual. An average of
eighty-one percent confessed to being active and had more than one sexual partner. A good
number of them suggested keeping one sexual partner as the best way to be saved. The males

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 20
seemed to embrace the idea of condom compared to the female participants. Three of the
participants were against the idea of using the condom on the bases of religion while the rest
were very positive about it. Use of condoms, abstinence, keeping one sexual partner were the
most discussed preventive measures.
DISCUSSION
In the recent years, the rate of STIs transmission among the youths has increased rapidly.
Though people may like to associate this increase with lack of knowledge, our research revealed
that young people have a lot of information and knowledge about different STIs. Most of the
participants were aware of different methods of transmission as well as different preventive
measures that can be used to avoid contracting the infections (Newman et al 2015).
According to the collected data, most of the young people both male and female are much
informed about HIV/AIDS than any other STI infection. Majority of those involved in the
research suggested the use of condom as the best and most convenient preventive method. The
results contradict those of a research done in China, where most of the participants thought
keeping one sexual partner is the best method to prevent HIV and other STD infections. The
attitude of youth towards different STIs also plays a big role in reducing the rate of their spread.
A good percentage of the participant showed a positive attitude towards having the knowledge

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 21
on STIs compared to the few who had a negative attitude. This positive attitude suggests that a
large number of young people have a good understanding of the STIs.
The informants revealed to have gained a lot of knowledge on STDs through education. They
suggested that education on STDs be introduced in the syllabus to allow the youth get knowledge
on different diseases as well as know the best preventive methods. According to them, education
is the best way to create awareness to the youth at an early stage. Through education, the youth
are able to meet experienced personnel like teachers, doctors and senior counsellors on the
matters of youth and health. The media can also be well utilized as a way of informing the
general public about the causes, symptoms effects and prevention of different STIs (Ling et al
2015).
STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS
The management of the two clinics allowing us to conduct our research on their premises was a
big boost for us. The youth turned out in both clinics was a good start and an encouragement to
go on with the research. There was a good cooperation between the clinicians and the patients
who participated in the research. This is because the filling of the questionnaires was voluntary
since the clinicians did not force anybody to fill them. Most the youths who filled the
questionnaires had relatives or friends who were ever infected with an STI making it easier for
them to fill the details.
The research was not without soma challenges and shortcomings. Some of the participants failed
to give some answers either because they lacked the correct information or out of ignorance.
There were a few cases of exaggerated information from some of the participants while some

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 22
answered out of knowledge about some diseases. Some gave the general information they had
about a certain disease to apply to all other STIs. The clinicians had a challenge of convincing
some of the patients to assist in filling the questionnaires and some refused to give different
reasons.
CONCLUSION
The knowledge of sexually transmitted disease among the youths has been lightly
researched. The phenomena of STDs have been based mainly on HIV/AIDS and fewer studies
on other STDs which put more danger to the youths. Much of research has been done on the
young adult than early adolescence. A good number of researchers have concluded that
promoting more education to the young people on STIs will give more positive health results in
their later adulthood. Social and culture education was used to examine whether the demographic
values influence and determine the STDs among the youths. Age was found to play an important
role in understanding STDs. The research shows that more emphasis is to evaluate the

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 23
importance of delivering more knowledge on other STIs as in HIV/AIDS. In order to achieve
good health and low cases of STIs, much cooperation and efforts are required to improve STI
education to the youths. The education about STDs should be taught to the youths from early
adolescent to their young adulthood. If this is done in a proper manner within institutions of
learning, it can have the great impact in helping reduce the spread of different STDs.
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SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 27
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SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 29
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Appendix

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 30
1.Syphilis is caused by bacterium Treponema pallidum.
Yes
No
2.STIs can be transmitted through oral, anal and virginal sex.
Yes
No.
3. The 3which disease destroys the immune system of the body?
HIV/AIDS
Chlamydia
4 Do you have a relative or a friend who has ever been infected with an STD?
Yes
No
5 Have you ever been tested any STI infection?
Yes
No
6. Name the most common STI in your area.
7 HIV/AIDS can be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy.
Yes
No
8. How many sex partners do you have?
9. Inflammation of the eyes is associated with chlamydia.
Yes
No

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 31
10 which is the best way to prevent STDs?
Using condom
Keeping one sex partner
1 The spread of STDs among the youth is increasing daily .write an essay expressing your feelings and
views on what may be the cause and the possible preventive methods.