This was an intervention study to assess the effects of health education on the knowledge and attitudes to
emergency contraception (EC) by female students of University of Nigeria in southeast Nigeria. A structured questionnaire
was used to collect data from 337 female students of a tertiary educational institution (150 in the study group and 187 from
the control group) who were selected by multistage sampling. Subsequently, health education was conducted only among
students in the study institution. Three months after this intervention, its effects were assessed through a survey using the
same structured questionnaire employed in the baseline survey. Unlike the pre-intervention results, knowledge of EC was
significantly higher (P < 0.05) among the study group than the controls. Attitudes to EC were also more favourable at the
post- intervention survey among the study group. Health education can effectively improve knowledge and attitudes to EC
among female students of tertiary institutions and this should be encouraged.