Assessment of Sexual Behavior And Knowledge of Sti And Hiv/Aids Among High School Adolescents in Jardega Jarte Woreda, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia, 2014
Creators: name: Bekele, Kumera
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2014

description: Background: Today, adolescents are recognized as groups with special health-related vulnerabilities .They are exposed to various risks such as unprotected sex, early marriage, early pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS. Many adolescents are sexually active. These sexual activities put adolescents at risk of various reproductive health problems including STI and HIV/AIDS.STIs have occurred mostly among young people, with the highest reported rates found among those aged 15-24 years. Objective: The major objective of this study is to assess the sexual behavior and the knowledge of STI and HIV/AIDS among high school adolescents. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 562 adolescents using a pre tested questionnaires from March to April 2014, among two high schools, in Jardega Jarte woreda, Horo Guduru Wollega zone, west Oromia regional state. Result: From the total respondents, 38.6 % ( 53% of male and 47% of female) of adolescents had experienced sexual activity. Among those, only 46.6% of them had used condom the first time they had sexual intercourse. The mean age at first sexual intercourse was 16.24 (16.24 ± 0.682) for male and 15.40 (15.40±0.796) for females. From all sexually active adolescents, 92.2% (97.2% of boys and 86.7% of the girls) had their first sexual intercourse between the ages of 15 and17 years. The reasons cited for the initiation of their first sexual intercourse were fall in love (37.9%), had desire, 74 (36%), peer pressure, 30 (14.5%), were drunk, 12 (5.8%), to get money or gifts, 5 (2.4%), rape, 4(1.9%), and got married, 2 (0.9%). Among all adolescents, 45.7% of students have heard about sexual intercourse other than vaginal while 54.3% of students have not heard. 98.9% of the respondents claimed to have ever heard about sexually transmitted diseases (STIs), of which, HIV/AIDS (96.6%), gonorrhea (75.8%), Syphilis, (74.3%) and Chancroids (40.1%), were the most commonly known types of STI. The most commonly cited sources of information for HIV/AIDS were media, such as radio and TV, (78.3%), school clubs,(74.5%) and followed by school teachers, (62.9%). The majority of the adolescents mentioned the modes of HIV/AIDS transmission to be through unprotected sexual intercourse (96.4%), sharing contaminated instruments (81.8%) followed by from mother to child (68.4). Conclusions and recommendations: from this study, one can conclude that substantial proportion of the adolescents ever had sexual intercourse was higher. Moreover adolescents are practicing risky sexual behaviors such as unprotected sex, multiple sexual partners, and sex at early age. Therefore, an integrated effort needs to be initiated to address such adolescents' sexual and reproductive health problems through establishing and strengthening school anti AIDS clubs, providing in service training for teachers on adolescent reproductive health and establishing youth centers