Abstract
Background: The problem of street children is becoming a world crosscutting issue since these children exist in every part of the world and become a worldwide problem. Objective: To assess factors associated with vulnerability to STIs and HIV/AIDS among street children in selected towns of Ethiopia. Methodology: Community-based cross-sectional descriptive study design was used on the three selected towns of Ethiopia from June-September, 2016. A total of 360 street children were selected, using snow ball sampling technique. Data were collected using pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to analyze the data. Results: A total of 360 (97.8%) respondents were included in this study. Among them, 167 (46.4%) of them had practiced sexual intercourse and out of these, 137 (82%) had started having sex at the age of 16 years old. Out of these, 61 (36.53%) of them started to get daily basic needs whereas 54 (32.3%) of them were forcefully raped on the street. Only 53 (59.6%) had used condom consistently and 83 (49.7%) had conducted survival sex within the last 12 months. Children on the street or chewing khat or consumption of alcohol had more vulnerability to STIs and HIV about 2.532 (1.57 - 4.08), 2.32 (1.11 - 4.80), 4.18 (2.31 - 7.55) times respectively. But those enrolled in school were about 0.40 (0.25, 0.64) less likely vulnerable than their counterparts. Conclusion: Street children are at a higher likelihood of vulnerability to STIs and HIV. Intervention targeted multilevel approach such as re-integration with their family, life skills training, sexuality education, creating income-generating activities and information education about STIs and HIV should be considered.
Highlights
The problem of street children is becoming a world crosscutting issue since these children exist in every part of the world and become a worldwide problem [1]
A majority of 260 (72.2%) of the street children highly participate in hard work while 44 (12.2%) of street children participate in survival sex
In this study, (46.4%) of street children were proven be involved in sexual intercourse which is lower than the previous study conducted among street children in Democratic Republic of Congo (85.5%) and Egypt (67%) [12] [13]
Summary
The problem of street children is becoming a world crosscutting issue since these children exist in every part of the world and become a worldwide problem [1]. Understanding the magnitude of vulnerability of street children to STIs and HIV/AIDS and its determinant factors were the aim of this research. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors associated with street children vulnerability to STIs and HIV. From these results it could be provided that direction for designing targeted HIV/AIDS and STIs intervention/prevention for street children in selected towns of Ethiopia. Objective: To assess factors associated with vulnerability to STIs and HIV/AIDS among street children in selected towns of Ethiopia. Children on the street or chewing khat or consumption of alcohol had more vulnerability to STIs and HIV about 2.532 (1.57 - 4.08), 2.32 (1.11 - 4.80), 4.18 (2.31 - 7.55) times respectively. Intervention targeted multilevel approach such as re-integration with their family, life skills training, sexuality education, creating income-generating activities and information education about STIs and HIV should be considered
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