COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND MEDICAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ABOUT SOCIALLY SIGNIFICANT DISEASES AND STI PREVENTION ISSUES.

As is known, the sexually transmitted infection (STI) incidence continues to be a pertinent issue: high contagiousness and negative impact on public health puts STIs on the list of socially significant diseases. The consequences of these diseases directly affect the demographic situation in the country, due to the deterioration of the reproductive health of the population with a subsequent decrease in the birth rate. This issue becomes especially pronounced among teenagers. This paper demonstrates the results of a study on socially significant diseases and STI prevention issues conducted among high school and medical students in Moscow with the aim of studying and identifying youth awareness problems, differentiating the knowledge of STI prevention among high school and college students, as well as determining respondents’ interest in getting information on these diseases online. Purpose: To study and identify problems of youth awareness, determine the difference in the knowledge of STI prevention among the high school and college students, as well as determine the interest of respondents in obtaining information on these diseases online. Materials and methods of research: The study includes the results of anonymous questionnaires filled out by schoolchildren of 15-17 years (115 respondents) and 3rd year students of the Faculty of Medicine (134 respondents). Research methods: analytical, statistical, sociological. Results: Based on the research data, we identified a difference in the answers of schoolchildren and college students in several types of questions. Thus, medical school students clearly appear as more mature, independent and busy people with more extensive knowledge on the given topics. The vast majority of respondents showed interest and wanted to obtain information on socially significant diseases and STI prevention. The best way to do so is to communicate comprehensive, high-quality knowledge of socially significant diseases and STI prevention using online technologies.