Browsing by Author "Zewdie, Zebideru"

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    Assessment of HIV Risk Perception and Condom Use among Youth in Debre Birhan District, Central Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2005-04) Zewdie, Zebideru; Ali, Ahmed(PhD)
    Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years are both the most threatened globally, accounting for half of all new cases of HIV and the greatest hope for turning the tide against AIDS. Significant proportion of the population particularly the youth are at high risk of HIV infection despite high level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Although various surveys have been made to study the sexual behavior of youth in Ethiopia, few studies assess youth risk perception to HIV/AIDS. This cross-sectional survey was conducted from December 2004 to January 2005 to assess HIV risk perception and condom use among youth in Debre Birhan Town of Amhara Region. A total of 663 youths were interviewed and four focus group discussions were conducted. In this study 32.7% of the respondents were sexually active. The mean age at first sexual intercourse was 18.1+ sd 2.1 years. Sixty-two (28.6%) of the sexually active respondents reported that they have more than one sexual partner. Among the sexually active respondents 38.7% had ever used condom and only 44.9% use condom consistently. Condom use was associated with marital status (AOR=0.08, 95% CI=0.01, 0.36), education (AOR=6.92, 95% CI=1.49, 32.00) and reported number of sexual partners (AOR=4.16, 95% CI=1.34, 12.87). With the above risk sexual behavior, participants’ attitude towards perceiving themselves at risk of HIV infection was only 4.5%. Knowledge of HIV transmission, (AOR =3.25, 95% CI=1.61, 6.55), number of reported sexual partners, (AOR=2.09, 95% CI=1.01, 4.33), condom use (AOR=0.30, 95% CI=0.14, 0.67), and khat (AOR=2.73, 95% CI=1.03, 7.22) were significantly associated with self-risk perception to HIV. From this study, it was concluded that despite the high knowledge the youths have on HIV/AIDS, they still engage in high- risk sexual behavior and perception of risk acquisition is very low. Thus, peer-based interventions to delay sex and negotiate condom use, youthfriendly sexual and reproductive health services including VCT and developing life skills to enable a change of attitude of the youth to avoid HIV/AIDS are recommended. Key words: Youth, Risk perception, Condom use, Debre Birhan District