Determinants of young people’s sexual behaviour concerning HIV and AIDS in the practice population of a university health centre in Lagos, Nigeria

Olayinka O Ayankogbe,Ayoade Adedokun,Kofo Odusote,Victoria Ofoha,Mopelola O Omoegun,Kehinde O Abiola

doi:10.4102/phcfm.v3i1.219

Abstract

BackgroundAIDS has been a scourge of universities in Africa for a long time. This study was launched at ground-level to fight the dreaded disease by concentrating on young people and to counter the ignorance that surrounds the disease even in numerous African universities. This study of the student community was carried out by family doctors at the University Health Department to determine the prevalence of the determinants of young people's reproductive health behaviour.ObjectivesThis study is aimed at determining young people's sexual behaviour concerning HIV and AIDS in the practice population of a university in Lagos, Nigeria.MethodSelf-administered 63-item questionnaires were distributed amongst 2000 randomly selected students of the University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria in September 2005, using a semi-structured form of the Comprehensive Youth Survey questionnaire, developed by FOCUS (led by Pathfinder International, Futures Group International and Tulane University School of Public Health).ResultsThe age distribution of the respondents was designated in the age groups of 15–19 years (15.8%), 20–24 years (60.1%), 25–29 years (19.6%), 30–34 years (2.8%). Demographics of note were that 88.3% of the fathers of the respondents were literate and that 94.5% of the fathers earned more than one US $ per day. The majority of the respondents (99.1%) indicated adherence to one religious faith or the other and 58.8% believed definitely that religion shaped their attitudes about sexual intercourse and sexuality. More than half (64.0%) denied having had sex at all in the three months preceding the study. Furthermore, 68.8% affirmed that it was common amongst friends of their age to use condoms. A significant number of respondents (65.5%) thought that their friends have drunken alcohol. Almost all of the respondents (94.3%) had a positive perception of their family.ConclusionThe Programming for HIV and AIDS Reduction on university campuses in Africa should be conducted comprehensively rather than monothematically and should, take into consideration the five thematic areas of behaviour change communication amongst young people concerning their reproductive health.

Highlights

AIDS remains a dreaded disease[1] in Africa, and every effort should be made to prevent it especially in young people who are disproportionately affected.[2,3,4,5,6] In his seminal report on case studies of seven Universities in Africa on HIV and AIDS in 2001, Kelly[7] concluded that a thick coat of ignorance surrounds the disease in many African universities
The standard Comprehensive Youth Survey questionnaire, developed by FOCUS, was used. This instrument is an internationally validated instrument used in surveys of reproductive health behaviour in young people all over the world
The pertinent religious debate about AIDS and sin in relation to this study reveals that 90.5% of the respondents do not believe that people who contracted HIV or AIDS are sinners. doi:10.4102/phcfm.v3i1.219

Summary

Introduction

AIDS remains a dreaded disease[1] in Africa, and every effort should be made to prevent it especially in young people who are disproportionately affected.[2,3,4,5,6] In his seminal report on case studies of seven Universities in Africa on HIV and AIDS in 2001, Kelly[7] concluded that a thick coat of ignorance surrounds the disease in many African universities.

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Conclusion