Ghana Medical Journal
Journal / Ghana Medical Journal / Vol. 54 No. 2 (2020): Supplement / Articles

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Published:

Aug 31, 2020

DOI:

10.4314/gmj.v54i2s.14

Keywords:

adolescents; young people; HIV; sex education; sexual experience

Issue

Vol. 54 No. 2 (2020): Supplement

Section

Articles

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Ernest Kenu

Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Dentistry, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana

Delia A. Bandoh

Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra

Rita Adu

Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Dentistry, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana

Adwoa O. Akwa

Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Dentistry, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana

Mariam Sam

Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Dentistry, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana

Margaret Lartey

Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Dentistry, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana

Abstract

Background: We assessed sexual experiences among adolescent and young adults living with HIV (AYALHIV) attending the adolescent HIV care clinic in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH)
Design: Cross-sectional study conducted in 2015.
Setting: HIV clinic at KBTH
Participants: AYALHIV who attended the adolescent HIV care clinic
Interventions: AYALHIV were interviewed with a structured questionnaire to obtain data on their socio-demographic characteristics and sexual experiences. The data was analyzed with STATA version 13.
Main outcome measures: sexual experiences of adolescents and young people living with HIV
Results: Of 101 participants, 60.4% (61/101) were males. The mean age of respondents was (18±3.2) years with an average age at sexual debut (16.2±4.2) years. A third of the respondents (34/101) had had sex before and out of them 76.5% (26/34) were males. Seventeen percent (4/23) had multiple sexual partners and 38.1% (8/21) of sexually active use condom at last sexual intercourse. Eighty-six percent (87/101) of respondents knew their HIV status, 66.7% (58/87) of them were males. There was a significant association (p<0.05) between being male and knowledge of HIV positive status. Knowledge of a respondents’ HIV positive status was found to be positively associated with ever using condom.
Conclusion: Sexual experience prevalence is high among AYALHIV. More males were sexually active, not using condom and had multiple sexual partners. Safer sexual practices such as consistent use of condoms, need to be intensified
especially during counselling sessions. This could contribute to the reduction in prevalence of HIV among the adolescents in the country.
Keywords: adolescents; young people; HIV; sex education; sexual experience
Funding: This work was funded by the authors

Journal Identifiers

eISSN:
print ISSN: 0016-9560