KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF UNDERGRADUATES ABOUT ADOLESCENT AND YOUTH FRIENDLY SERVICES IN A TERTIARY INSTITUTION IN AKURE SOUTH, ONDO STATE.

Youth-friendly health services (YFHS) is one of the evidence-based interventions recommended by WHO to address health system barriers by providing health-enabling social environments that are more accessible, acceptable, equitable, appropriate and effective for young people. The study assesses the knowledge and perception of undergraduates about adolescent and youth-friendly services in a tertiary institution in Akure South, Ondo State. A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was adopted for the survey, the target population was 330 respondents. Multi-stage sampling technique was used. Data was collected using standard structured questionnaires and data analysis was performed using SPSS version 27. An ethical approval for the study was obtained. Findings show that 61.02% of the respondents were males and 46.1% of them were between the ages of 18 – 20 years. Furthermore, 70.0% of the respondents have not heard about Adolescent and Youth-friendly health services (AYFHS), while 55.2% were with poor knowledge. Finally, 71.8% of the respondents agreed that AYFHS has a very important role to play in healthy living and 100% of them felt there was no need for the existence of AYFHS facility. It was found that there was a poor level of knowledge, the general perception was fair but not encouraging enough and the major barriers affecting undergraduates from accessing AYFHS were stigmatization and poor perception. In conclusion, there was a poor level of knowledge and perception of AYFHS and a proper public orientation and awareness was recommended.