Sexuality, Perception of risk of HIV/STIs and Condom use among high school adolescents in South-Gondar Administrative Zone, Amhara Region
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Date
2004-04
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Addis Abeba Universty
Abstract
A cross-sectional descriptive survey through a self-administered, anonymous and
structured questionnaire was conducted from December 2003 to January 2004 in
randomly selected two high schools in South Gondar Zone to determine the sexual
behavior of adolescents, their risk perception about HIV/AIDS and condom use. A total
of 709 adolescents participated in the study. Of theses, 489(69.0%) were males and
220(31.0%) were females. About 9% of the respondents were sexually active. Fifteen,
(23.4%) of the sexually active respondents claimed to have more than one sexual partner.
About 14.8% had coital contact with female commercial sex workers of which only
37.5% of them reported ever condom use. Six hundred seventy four respondents (95.1%)
knew about STDs and AIDS was the most commonly known STD (92.1%) followed by
gonorrhea (89.85%) and Syphilis (88.9%). About 76.9% of the respondents mentioned
teachers as the most common source of information for HIV/AIDS and STIs. More than
70% of the respondents answered favorably for all questions concerning “normal”
interactions such as eating together, shaking hands and continuing friendship with
HIV/AIDS patients. About 5.8% of students perceived to high chance of acquiring HIV.
Only 47.4% of the students felt that most students have adequate information about
condoms. Four hundred twenty two (59.5%) of the students approved the idea of condom
distribution in schools. About 82.2% of school adolescents claimed to be voluntary to
under go voluntary counseling and testing for HIV.
It was concluded that adolescents are engaged early to practice sex, exposed to high risk
sexual behavior, unfavorable attitude manifested to towards HIV/AIDS patients, the
perception of risk acquisition is weak and there is inadequate family and social support to
discuss about sexuality and protective measure.
Hence, recommended that programs targeted towards adolescents should work with
adolescents, promote their participation and equipped them with life skills to put their
knowledge in to practice, and respond timely to the existing high demand for VCT by
establishing accessible and affordable service centers.
Key words: Adolescent, sexuality, risk perception, condom use
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Keywords
Adolescent, sexuality, risk perception, condom use