Introduction:-India has the highest number of adolescents in the world; adolescents are vulnerable to various risks if they suffer from lack of knowledge and empowerment to make informed sexual and reproductive health decisions. This scenario is worse in the slums; hence we planned to find out the prevalence of reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections (RTIs/STIs) and treatment seeking behavior among adolescent girls aged 15-19 years. Objectives: To study sociodemographic factors associated with RTIs and their health-seeking behavior during such ailments. Materials and methods: A community based cross-sectional study was carried among 120 adolescent girls of 15-19 years in the field practice area of Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar using random sampling technique. A semi-structured pretested questionnaire was used for the collection of data. Results: Prevalence of RTI was found to be 15%. The most common symptom was itching in the genital area (13.33%) followed by vaginal discharge (10%), backache (5%) and lower abdominal pain (3.3%). 55.56% of them seeked medical care during their gynaecological illness. Perception of symptoms as normal (80%), expensive treatment (60%), feeling shy (60%), lack of female health workers (40%) were identified as major barriers for not seeking treatment for RTIs. Education, socioeconomic class, religion and menstrual practices showed statistically significant association with RTIs. Conclusion: About fifteen percent of the adolescent girls had experienced at least one symptom of RTI in the past one year. Girls had poor treatment seeking behavior for the same.
