Research Article Volume 10 Issue 3 - July 2018 DOI: 10.19080/JGWH.2018.10.555788 J Gynecol Women’s Health Copyright © All rights are reserved by Ellen Osei Tutu J Gynecol Women’s Health 10(3): JGWH.MS.ID.555788 (2018) 001 Journal of Gynecology and Women’s Health ISSN 2474-7602 Awareness and Usage of Emergency Contraceptives (EC) Among University Students: The Case of Ghana Ellen OseiTutu 1 *, Abigail A Aryeh-Adjei 1 and Ernest Ampadu 2 1 Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies, University of Ghana, Ghana 2 Department of Teacher Education, University of Ghana, Ghana Submission: May 30, 2018; Published: July 09, 2018 * Corresponding author: Ellen Osei Tutu, Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies, University of Ghana, Ghana, Email: Introduction Globally, it is estimated that each year, approximately two- thirds (62%) of all pregnancies are intended, and the rest (38%) are unintended (Bongaarts & Johansson, 2002 cited in Thapa [1]. Unintended pregnancies may pose dire consequences for women and their families, including possible unsafe abortion, increased maternal morbidity and mortality among others [2,3]. In Jamaica for instance, unplanned pregnancies are common because Jamaican women are often exposed to unprotected or unwanted sex [4]. In addition, 40% of Jamaican women experience a pregnancy before they reach the age of 20. Of these pregnancies, over 80% are unplanned [5]. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1997estimated that 86.1% of college students in the U.S.A. had engaged in sexual intercourse and that more than one-third of college women have had sexual intercourse with six or more partners [6].Unwanted pregnancies can influence the progress and future careers of students[7]. Unintended pregnancies may adversely affect students’ studies and contribute highly to interrupted and truncated education, especially among female students in Ghana. The question is what happens to these unintended pregnancies? Some of these pregnancies end up in induced abortions.According to Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Ghana Health Service & Macro International [8], 15% of women have ever had an induced abortion. Also, one in five women who had an abortion reported that, the main reason for the abortion was that, there was no money to take care of a baby. Furthermore, about one in ten women who had an abortion took more than one action to end their most recent pregnancies because the first action was not effective in terminating the pregnancy. This implies that these women were determined to get rid of their unwanted pregnancies and could have resorted to using ECs probably if they were available to them. According to the latest Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data in Ghana, 14% of women between the ages of 15- 19 years were pregnant for the first time [9]. Most of them may not have been ready for it and were likely not have completed school. Unplanned pregnancies have been found to be high among women below age 20 and unmarried women. Research has shown that there is a direct relationship between level of education, socio-economic status and the likelihood to have unplanned pregnancies. For example, a research by Omane- Adjepong, [10], shows that the higher the education of a woman the less likely it is for her to have unplanned pregnancies and women who live in towns and non-income earners experience higher cases of unplanned pregnancies. Married women and females, in general, suffer many complications that come with unwanted pregnancies from rape, coerced unprotected sex Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the awareness and usage of Emergency Contraceptives (ECs) among university students. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire involving 1,871 students of the University of Ghana. The results showed that majority (87.9%) ofthese students were aware of some regular contraceptives and ECs. The results also revealed that despite the awareness of these contraceptives among students, majority (70.4%) had never used any form of contraceptives. The authors recommend that the university should use social media as a means of creating awareness of contraceptives in general and ECs in particular to the students. Keywords: Emergency contraceptives; University students; Awareness; Unintended pregnancy; Usage