Assessment of substance abuse and risky sexual behaviour among female sex workers in Addis-ketema sub city, Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

The global burden of substance use is substantial, accounting for 8.9% of productive life lost annually due to disability and premature mortality, as measured in disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). Among the ten leading risk factors in terms of avoidable disease burden, tobacco was fourth and alcohol fifth in 2000 and both remain high on the list in the 2010 and 2020 projections. Within any HIV epidemic, sex workers have been one of the groups most vulnerable and at risk of HIV infection due to their substance use and multiple sexual partners spanning multiple sexual networks. High rates of other sexually transmitted infections and unsafe sexual practices further increase the probability of HIV transmission in sex workers. As a result of the risks involved and their vulnerabilities. To assess the prevalence of substance use and magnitude of risky sexual behavior and its association with substance use among female sex workers in Addis-ketema sub city, Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. Community based descriptive cross sectional study which employed quantitative approach was conducted on substance use among Addis-ketema female sex workers from April 1st to 30th 2015. Structured questionnaire was used to measure the magnitude and associated factors for substance use on a total sample size of 425 Addis-ketema sub-city female sex workers. The sample size was determine by using single population proportion formula and simple random sampling technique was used to get study subjects. Binary logistic regression analysis was carried out to see the association between each independent variable with outcome variable and then variables that showed significant association were included in a single model, and multiple logistic regressions were performed to identify the most significant predictors. This study revealed that a significant proportion (58.2%) of sex workers abused substances. Prevalence of consistent condom use among female sex workers in Addis-ketema Sub-city Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia was 28.1%. Substance use among female sex workers was significantly associated with marital status of the respondents (AOR = 0.5, 95%, CI = 0.21, 0.99), educational status of the respondents (AOR = 0.1, 95%, CI = 0.02, 0.66), monthly income (AOR = 0.6, 95%, CI = 0.27, 1.32), and risky sexual behaviour (AOR = 2.7, 95%, CI = 1.44, 5.18). The overall prevalence of consistent condom use among Addis-Ketema female sex workers was very low and the main predictors of substance use were found to be risky sexual behaviour, marital status knowledge, educational status and monthly income. Therefore, interventions targeting the predictors are recommended. Key words: Substance use, risky sexual behavior, HIV/AIDS.