Sexual behaviour among adolescents living with the human immunodeficiency virus in Zimbabwe: educational implications.

This study utilised a cross-sectional design with a conveniently selected sample of 341 HIV-positive adolescents. Data were collected through a questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive and analytical statistics. The study revealed that approximately 37 (11%) of the adolescents had engaged in sexual intercourse, and approximately 14 (60%) of these did not use condoms. Approximately 11 (30%) of the sexually active adolescents had multiple sexual partners, and only 9 (24.3%) of them had disclosed their HIV serostatus to their partners before sexual intercourse. A bivariate analysis revealed factors that were associated with being sexually activity. Examples of these include age (OR = 1.56, p < 0.001) and being treated by a psychiatrist (OR = 47.9, p < 0.001). A multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out, revealing factors that were independently associated with being sexually active. Examples of these include age (AOR = 1.91, p < 0.01) and exposure to erotic television programmes (AOR = 3.9, p < 0.04). The results of the study indicate that the sexual risk behaviours of HIV-positive adolescents contributes to the increase in incidence and prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe. The development and rolling out of a health education programme will help health care workers to address this concern. PMID: 31282303 [PubMed - in process]
Source: African Journal of AIDS Research - Category: African Health Tags: Afr J AIDS Res Source Type: research