Factors That Influences School Adolescents Exposure To Hivstd In Bale Oromia Region

Adolescence is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood. World Health Organizationrn(WHO) defines adolescent as person between 10 and 19 years of age.rnAdolescents’ sexual behavior threatens the physical, psychological and social health and wellrnbeing of this group and takes their life. There fore, sexual behavior is an essential indicator tornassess the trend of HIV/AIDS among this vulnerable group and to take an action in its preventionrnand control. This study had an objective of assessing sexual behavior of school adolescents andrnfactors influencing them to practice risky sexual behavior that exposes them to HIV/AIDS inrnfour selected high schools in Bale zone, Oromia regional state from October 2003 to May 2004.rnA cross sectional descriptive survey was carried out and a multi stage sampling procedure wasrnemployed to select a fair representative sample from the schools. Eight hundred thirty ninernsubjects were selected for the study. To collect data, a pre-tested self-administered questionnairernwas used. To complement the findings of the quantitative one Focus Group Discussions werernalso conducted in eight groups.rnOf the study subjects, 488 (58.2%) were males and 351(41.8%) were females. Among them 258rn(30.8%) of school adolescents 186 (72.1%) males and 72 (29.9%) females were sexually active.rnFemale students had sexual intercourse earlier than males (15.21+ 1.4 versus 16.11+ 1.94). Thernmain factors reported for the initiation of sexual intercourse were personal desire 102 (39.1%),rnand peer pressure 60 (23.3%). Of the sexually active students 150 (58.1%) had never usedrncondom during any sexual episode.rnAmong sexually active students 147 (57%) and 101 (39.2%) reported genital discharge andrngenital ulcer in the past one year respectively. As regard to their sexual partner, 123 (47.7%) hadrnsexual encounter with multiple partners. The mean number of partners was 1.5.Sexually activernStudents also reported that they had sexual commencement with causal partner, a partner withrnmultiple sexual partners and commercial sex worker (43.7%, 38.9% and 20.5% respectively)..rnAmong sexually active students 25.6% (40.3% females and 19.9% males) received gift or moneyrnin return to sex in the past one year. Pertaining to substance use among sexually active studentsrn13.6% had used alcohol and 12.4% of them had used “khat”. Of those students who hadrnexperienced sex 15.9% had encountered sexual violence (40.3% females and 6.5% malesrnrespectively). Eight hundred twenty two (98%) of students are aware of HIV/AIDS and 44.8% ofrnthem know more than two mode of HIV transmission and 48% are knowledgeable for more thanrnone preventive methods. In addition to the students’ moderate knowledge to mode of HIVrntransmission and its preventive methods, 30.9% and 31.8% had risk behavior exposing them tornHIV respectively. Among sexually active students 58.1% perceived that they have no or lowrnchance of infection with HIVrnIt was concluded that school adolescents have risk taking behavior like beginning sexualrnintercourse earlier, practicing sex with multiple partners, causal partner and commercial sexrnworker, and low rate of condom use during their sexual encounter and different factorsrninfluences students to practice such behavior such as their personal desire, pressure from theirrnpeers, alcohol consumption and khat chewing which exposes them to HIV/AIDS infection due torntheir limited knowledge about the disease.rnStudents get information about HIV/AIDS from their school mini media and some voluntaryrnHIV positive persons in an occasional and limited way.rnBased on this it was recommend that education on sexual health should be given intensively byrnhealth institutions, NGOs and other bodies in a regular way as well as should be incorporatedrnin the school curriculum.rnKey Words: Sexual, Behaviour, Adolescents, School

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