Abstract
BackgroundHuman immunodeficiency virus infection is a global crisis that represents a serious health threat, particularly among younger people. Various studies show that both orphan and non-orphan adolescents and youths experience vulnerability to HIV. Nevertheless, the findings hitherto are mixed and inconclusive. The aim of this study, therefore, was to assess the prevalence of parental death and its association with multiple sexual partners among secondary school students for evidence based interventions.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among secondary school youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A multistage sampling technique was used to select a representative sample of 2,169 school youths. Sexual health behavior related data were collected using self-administered questionnaire. Binary logistic regression was employed to examine the relation between parental death and multiple sexual partners.ResultsAmong the 2,169 eligible study participants 1948 (90%) completed the self-administered questionnaires. Of those 1,182(60.7%) were females. The overall prevalence of parental death was 347(17.8%.) with 95% CI (16.2%, 19.6%). The HIV/AIDS proportionate mortality ratio was 28% (97/347).A multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that high HIV/AIDS related knowledge (AOR = 0.39; 95% CI, 0.18-0.84), positive attitude towards HIV prevention methods (AOR = 0.48; 95% CI, 0.23-0.97), being tested for HIV (AOR = 0.52; 95% CI, 0.31-0.87) and chewing Khat (AOR = 2.59; 95% CI,1.28-5.26)] were significantly associated with having multiple sexual partners among secondary school youths.ConclusionsSignificant proportion of secondary school youths had lost at least one parent due to various causes. High knowledge of HIV/AIDS, positive attitude towards ‘ABC’ rules for HIV prevention, being tested for HIV and chewing khat are more likely to be factors associated with multiple sexual partnership among secondary school students in Addis Ababa.Therefore, the school based interventions against the HIV/AIDS epidemic should be strengthened with particular emphasis on the effects of HIV/AIDS related knowledge, attitude towards preventive measures, mechanisms for improving HIV Counseling and Testing coverage and the associated prevailing risk factors.
Highlights
Human immunodeficiency virus infection is a global crisis that represents a serious health threat, among younger people
The age and sex distributions of non-respondents 221 (10.2%) were believed to be similar to that of the respondents because of being in similar schools and grade levels. This fact was observed from the annual report prepared by the Federal Ministry of Education of Ethiopia for the year 2012/13 and data collected from each participant school through desk review during preliminary assessments [37]
Among the variables selected as multiple sexual partner predictors, having high knowledgeable on Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS related topics (OR = 0.45; 95% CI, 0.22-0.93), showing positive attitude towards “ABC” rules for HIV prevention (OR = 0.48; CI, 0.25-0.95), being ever tested for HIV (OR = 0.53; 95% CI, 0.33-0.85), and chewing Khat (OR = 1.80; 95% CI, 1.0-3.26), showed positive associations
Summary
Human immunodeficiency virus infection is a global crisis that represents a serious health threat, among younger people. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a global crisis that represents a serious health threat, among younger people [1]. With an estimated adult prevalence of 1.5%, it has a large number of people living with HIV (approximately 800,000) and about 1 million AIDS orphans [2]. In countries with high HIV prevalence and the resultant high adult mortality rate there will be higher incidence and prevalence of orphans [3]. HIV/AIDS directly impacts on the lives of approximately 20 million children worldwide and an estimated 16.6 million children have lost one or both parents due to the disease [4,5] While AIDS-related deaths are declining due to biomedical interventions supported through social protection mechanisms, a study on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors showed that in 2010 AIDS remained to be the fifth-leading cause of disease-related deaths, with an estimated 1.5 million AIDS-related deaths [3].
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