Adolescent Perceptions of Sexual Health Issues: A Case Study of Students of High School in Addis Ababa.
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Date
2005-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The concept of Adolesce nt reproductive Health (ARH) has gained attent ion follow ing the international conference
(ICPD) held in September 1994 in Cairo, Egypt. Reproductive heahh problems assoc iated with the ri sk behaviour and
vulne rabil ity of adolescen ts, especially in re lation to early and unwanted pregnancy, un safe abortion, sexually
transmitted infection and HIV/AIDS. Therefore, addressing risk behaviour is certainly important, considering that
many adolescents have ins ufficient factlJaI knowledge of sexual and reproductive health. Also they have in adequate
guidance from adults and limited access to health care services, of course sexual intercourse is an inevitable
precondition for the generational continuation of human existence. In the current conditions of HIV/AIDS as a new
glo bal risk, however, sex has become a possible threat to existence of people in all societies.In this study, an attempt has been made to in vestigate the i~of sex u a l ~alth among the school adolescents in Addis
Ababa High School. Risks of sexual behavior cannot be predicted in the current circumstances in which especially
adolescent meet many ri sky challenges that drive their behav ior and even their int imacy. When th e world around them
is rapidly changing young people face threatening syndromes like HI V/AIDS, which cause ontological uncertainty
because of their un known character.
Adults impose their sex ual worries on to children and young adu lts in ways, which are relatively inaccessible and
bounded by what cannot be sa id aloud or clearly s e~n because of the taboo character of sex. Taboo makes the issue of
sex extremely diffi cult to di scuss with young people, the exact ri sks, however, being warned about.
Most of these risks arc preventable but many paren ts, opin ion leaders and policy makers are afraid to act. They do not
want to inform young people about sex and its consequences because they believe th is will lead to teenage promiscu ity
and immorality. Parents might be embarrassed to bring up reproductive health wi th their children, opinion leaders may
not speak out because they wish 10 avoid contro ve rsy. As a consequence, our societies face unnecessary human and
social costs.
The purpose of th e study is to in..x.e~t i ga t e... th e_status of reproductive hea lth among ado lesce nts in Addis Ababa High
Schools, by usi ng prin)ary and seconqary sources of information. Its main objectives arc I) to assess the knowledge,
attitude, beliefs and perceptions of reprod uctive heal th pract ices of high school s tudents in Addis Ababa, and 2) to map
out their sources of information and 3) to assesses att itudc of adolescent towards sex education.
This study was carried out in Addis Ababa High School students. At the time of data coll ection, there were 70 High
Schools and a total of 96,57 1 students all in at! in the city. Out of these l..Q..schools randomly se lected and 600 students
were sampled from each grade and gender (3 14 males and 286 females). The study was conducted in Mwch 2005.
The major findin gs of the study showed that age of adolescents determine thei r sexual behaviour; the ir knowledge on
aspects of their own sexual ly is seen incomplctc and not enough to minimi ze ri sk-taking behavior. Younger adolescents
shown more open att itudes toward sexual issues th an the older adolescents do. The knowledge about sexual health
issues comes from health professionals and teachers as well as some patchy information is receivcd from peers of the
same sex who may th emse lves be too litt le informed or misinformed.
Based on the out comes of the study, seeking of general information on how to behave in the sexual life sphere was
positively percei ved, as claimed by both male and female adolescents. Yet more than half of all adolescents believe that
it is unacceptable to discuss these matte rs openly with their parents or adults.
It is a lso found from the ana l y~is that a greatcr number of male than fema le respondents know more about the top two
co ntraceptive methods namely condom and pill s. Most part, more than (8 1.8%) of all adolescen ts, indicate their interest
to use contraceptive mcthods in the futu re.
The study indicates that quite large portion of male (44.3%) and females (39.5%) among the population undcr the study
were sexually active, more th an half of them (67.5%) reported to have had unprotected sexual intercourse. While the
rest telt that they used contraception (condom) in the past. The general attitude is that the act of premarital intercourse
is not supported in this survey. Based on the findin g, some suggestions arc forwarded for futu re needs to initiate sex
education in the school curriculum emphasizing the community-based efforts, as recommended. Furthermore, for
practical reasons, community based preventive interventions s ites need to be established by enabling the ex isting
networks: health fac ilities, relig ious organi zation s, school teachers and peer educators.The usc of trained peers as
educators could be a part of lhe school curricu lum and an inc rease of lhe responsi bi lity of parents in matters concerning
sexuality of adolescents might ease the workload on health profess ionals and teac hers.
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Keywords
Sexual Health Issues