DOI: 10.21276/sajp.2016.5.12.2

Pages: 413-420

Emergency contraception refers to a method that women can use to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse, method failure or incorrect use. Unwanted pregnancy followed by unsafe abortion can be avoided by using different contraceptive methods including emergency contraceptives (EC). The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of emergency contraceptive use among graduating female students of College of Health and Medical Sciences (CHMS), Haramaya University (HU). Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from Apr 1-Apr, 30, 2015. The calculated sample size of 130 was evenly stratified to each department graduating female students. Simple random sampling was then employed to collect data from each stratum using self administered questionnaire. One hundred twenty five (95.38%) have heard of EC. The common sources of information were teachers in class 50 (40.32%), health institutions 45 (36.3%) and mass media 15 (12.09%). Coming to the attitude of the respondents towards ECs, 78 (62.9%) agreed and 31(25.0%) strongly agreed that ECs prevent unwanted pregnancy after unprotected sex .Fifty five (42.31%) agreed to use EC in the future. Regarding the actual practice, from 59 students who had sexual intercourse, only 36(61%) used oral post coital pills. The awareness of the students towards ECs was found to be appreciable. However, as health and medical science college students, the practice of EC was not as such promising. Therefore, there is a need to educate students about utilization of EC, with emphasis on available methods and correct timing of use. There should be promotion of EC to enhance their use and making them easily accessible in hospital, pharmacies and student clinics.