Emergency contraception: knowledge and practices of tertiary students in Durban, South Africa

The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, use and attitude to the use of emergency contraception among tertiary students in Durban, South Africa through the use of a self-administered confidential questionnaire. A scoring system was developed to analyse the response of each student. A total of 436 students (56.5%) had heard of emergency contraception. Few knew the specific methods of emergency contraception and only 11.8% knew the correct time limit in which it must be used. Only 60 students (7.8%) knew how effective emergency contraception was in preventing pregnancy. Ninety-one students (11.8%) had used emergency contraception and 50% responded that if they had to, they would use it or recommend it to a friend. A logistic regression model showed that the predictors for a high knowledge score were: University of Natal students, having heard of emergency contraception, having used it before and having received formal sex education. Overall, knowledge and use of emergency contraception by tertiary students is limited. There is a need for carefully designed education programmes and promotion of emergency contraception on campuses.