Despite the fact that genetic counseling is pivotal to the prevention of genetic disorder, sickle cell disorders, the commonest inherited disorder still continues to devastate the lives and finances of affected individuals and their family. In Nigeria about 100, 000 children die yearly from sickle cell disorders while a million others are living with it. This study explores the knowledge of genetic counseling among unmarried undergraduates in Obafemi Awolowo University as a preventive measure for genetic counseling. A descriptive survey design was employed to elicit information from a total of 100 randomly sampled undergraduates of the said institution using a self-designed questionnaire and data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings from the study revealed that a good number of the study participants had very good knowledge (86%) and positive attitude (84%) towards genetic counseling. In addition, about a third of the participants affirmed non-availability of genetic counseling in their locality as factors that contributed to their acceptance of genetic counseling while almost half did not know if it was a factor. Findings from the study also depicts that gender (p=0.30; df=3; x²=2.40) and religion (p=0.94; df=4; x²=0.987) had no significant relationship with participants knowledge of genetic counseling. It was recommended among others that there is need to educate young men and women on sickle cell disease and effort should be made on the involvement of young men and women on genetic counseling.

Keywords: Knowledge, Undergraduates, Genetic Counselling, Sickle Cell Disease,

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