Assessment Of Sexual And Reproductive Health Status And Related Problems Of Young People With Disabilities In Selected Associations Of People With Disability Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Back ground:-rnYoung people in Ethiopia face many sexual and reproductive health problems; UNrnresolutions underline the fact that adolescent sexual and reproductive health carernneeds are not being adequately met. This is in part because their needs are notrnclearly understood within the social and cultural context of their lives, but alsornbecause researchers, service providers, and policy makers often avoid the sensitivernissue of adolescent sexuality or hold uncompromising attitudes toward adolescentrnsexual behavior. In particular young people with disability are among the mostrnstigmatized, poorest, and least educated of all the world's citizens. To date, very littlernis known about the sexuality of disabled youth, in general the reproductive healthrnneed and related problems of this group, whether they have access to healthrnservices and information and, if so, to what extent. Therefore, for ensuring the healthrnof Young people with Disability, the understanding of SRH and existing problemsrnrelated to sexuality and reproduction on this group of population is important.rnObjective: - The aim of this study is to assess the sexual reproductive health statusrnand associated problems of young people with disability at selected association ofrnpeople with disability, Addis Ababa.rnMethod:- A cross- sectional survey was conducted from Feb11-17, 2008 to assessrndisabled youth reproductive health status and related problems. The data wererncollected by trained data collectors using a structured questionnaire & tworncomplementary focus group discussions were also conducted guided by semistructuredrnquestions, a total of 384 young people with disability were selected usingrnsystematic sampling technique. Descriptive statistics was employed to examine thernfindings and appropriate statistical methods like chi-square, crude and adjusted oddsrnratio were also used.rnResult: -A total 174(45.3%) of respondents in the study ever had sexual intercourse;rnout of them 100(57.5%) and 74(42.5%) were male and female respectively. Seventyrnthree (42.0%) of them started sex between the age of 15-19 years and only 9.2%rnwere married. Only 45.4% of the sexually experienced respondents have used somernkind of contraceptive during their first sexual encounter. Rate of unintendedrn[8]rnpregnancy was 62.5% among young disabled females who had ever been pregnantrnand 50% of them had history of abortion, 87.5% of this abortion was induced type. Inrnthis study, 58.6% of the sexually active respondents had multiple life time sexualrnpartners, 20.7% had a casual sex partner and 18.0% of sexually active males had arncommercial sex partner in the past 12 months period prior to the survey. History ofrnever having STI was 25.3%. Only 55.5%, 33.1% and 51.8% of respondents hadrngood knowledge on HIV transmission, STI Sign and symptom, HIV Preventionrnrespectively and only 33.3% of respondents had utilized reproductive healthrnservices.rnConclusion & Recommendations: -From this study finding it can be said thatrnYPWD are at risk for sexual and reproductive health associated problems. Manyrnyoung people were engaged in sexual activity before marriage and do so at earlyrnage. Majority of the sexually experienced respondents’ first sexual encounter wasrnunplanned often without any protection against pregnancy, STIs or other potentialrnreproductive health risks associated with unplanned sexual experiences. There fore,rnparents, family members and the entire community have to be sensitized about thernneed to provide a safe environment for YPWDs and organizing education session inrnthe area where most YPWD benefit should be promoted and focused not only onrnknowledge but acquisition of essential skills (communication and negotiation skills)rnas well as equip YPWD with self-esteem thus improve their confidence for better RHrnoutcomes.