<p>STIs MAnuscript Data.</p>

Frequencies, percentages, chi-square, and binary logistic regression were used to analyse the data.</p> <p>Results</p><p>The results revealed that out of the 10,896 students, 5,448 (50%) were male and 5,448 (50%) were female. Overall, 4,124 (37.8%) students were sexually active, whereas 6,772 (62.2%) were not. Among the sexually active unmarried students, 1,506 (36.5%) reported having ever been infected with at least one STI, mostly gonorrhea and syphilis.

Furthermore, females (n = 835:62.2%), students aged 20–24 years (n = 838;62.4%), level 200s (n = 443;33.0%), and level 300s (juniors) (440;32.8%), Christians (n = 1007;75%), non-resident students (n = 798;59.0%), those with low socioeconomic status (912;67.9) and those who did not use condom at their last sexual intercourse (897;66.8%) were more likely to be infected with at least an STI. Students aged 20–24 years (AOR = 3.620, 95%CI = 2.435–5.382), those aged 25 years and above (AOR = 1.457, 95%CI = 1.237–1.716), and those at level 300 (juniors)(AOR = 1.038, 95%C.785-1.373) were more likely to suffer from STI.

Moreover, Muslims students (AOR = 1.88, 95%CI = 1.312–2.703), students from other religions (AOR = 1.390, 95%CI = .939-2.056), those who engaged in anal sex (AOR = 1.351, 95%CI = 1.123–1.624), those who did not use condom during their last sexual encounters (AOR = 1.355, 95%CI = 1.03–1.665) and those whose friends were sexually active (AOR = 3.713, 95%CI = 2.132–6.468) were more likely to report infection with STIs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p><p>There is a high prevalence of STIs among unmarried young university students in Ghana because of an increase in risky sexual behaviours.

Unfortunately, this is making the fight against HIV/AIDS and other deadly STIs complicated. Thus, institution-based health education and promotion programmes are required to lower the risk of STIs, including HIV/AIDS, among the students. These findings pose challenges to achieving SDGs 3 and 17, which highlight the need for worldwide collaboration and accelerated efforts to curb STIs by 2030.</p></div>