Medicina Comunitária e Educação em Saúde

Abstrato

Factors that Influences School Youth Exposure to HIV/AIDS, in Mettu Town, South West Ethiopia

Zenebu Begna Bayissa*, Ebisa Negara, Geremew Tolesa and Belayneh Kefale

Background: Young people between the age of 15 and 24 years are both the most threatened globally, accounting for half of all new cases of HIV and the greatest hope for turning the tide against AIDS. Ethiopia is among the highly HIV/AIDS infected and affected countries with 790,000 HIV patients in the world in general and the region in particular. As is the case elsewhere in Africa, transmission is almost exclusively through heterosexual contact. A large proportion of new HIV infection is occurring in young people less than 25 years old. The objective of this study was to assess factors influences school youth exposure to HIV/AIDS, in mettu town. Methods: School based cross-sectional study was employed. Sample size was determined by using single population proportion formula and 423 youths from grade nine to twelve was selected by Simple random sampling technique from registration books. Self-administered questionnaires were employed. All explanatory variables that were associated with the outcome variable during bivariate analysis were included in the final logistic model. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was made to identify factors that influence school youths exposure to HIV/AIDS at the p-value of <0.05. Results: In this study 51 (12.9%) of the respondents reported that they had practiced sexual intercourse. All students engaged in sexual activity, 51 (100%) reported to have one sexual partner. All of students 394 (100%) were aware of HIV or the disease AIDS and all of them had heard diseases that can be transmitted through sexual intercourse. Finally, condom utilization, having sexual intercourse, drinking alcohols and smoking were found to be the independent predictor for risk factors of HIV/AIDS after controlling other variables as confounders. Conclusion: It was concluded that school youths have risky behaviours like beginning sexual intercourse earlier, low proportion of condom use, and different factors influence them to practice such types of behaviour like being fire age, alcohol consumption and smoking. So that education on sexual issue should be given by all concerned bodies.