Original article - Ethiopian Review

Original articleHigh risk sexual behaviours for STD/HIV,pregnancies and contraception among high schoolstudents in a rural town, north western EthiopiaShabbir Ismail 1 , Habteab Bitsuamlak 2 and Kahsu Alemu 2Abstract: A cross-sectional study evaluated STD/HIV related sexual behaviours among 383(90.8% of the required 422) secondary school students in Kolla Diba town of North Gondar Zoneusing a pre-tested self-reporting questionnaire. Additionally, the contraceptive utilization andoccurrence of pregnancies among the 202 female students was evaluated. There were 122 (31.9%)sexually active students, of these 44 were females. Their mean age of sexual commencement was16.4(± 2.3 SD) years. The total number of sexual partners in the past six months was around two.Ten (9.3%) had sex with commercial sex workers (CSWs) in the past six months. Only 45.9% hadused condoms and half of them regularly. The most common sources of condoms were shops.Fourteen (11.5%) of the sexually active students had contracted a sexually transmitted disease(STD) in the past six months. Three hundred and forty nine (91%) of the students have heardabout AIDS, 297 (85.1%) believe in its existence and 166 (47.6%) have seen an AIDS patient.Only 65 (18.6%) felt that they can acquire HIV infection. Of the 44 sexually active femalestudents, 11 (25%) are using contraceptives at present. Oral contraceptive pill is the mostcommonly used method. The major reasons for the non-utilization of a reliable method ofcontraception among the non-users were fear of side effects, refusal by the partners and refusal byfamily. Half of all the sexually active female students were pregnant at least once. Seventy fourpercent of the female students would prefer to deliver at term if pregnant. Only 37 (18.1%) of the