Young Women Sexual Behaviour and Self-Reported Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Northern Ethiopia: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Abstract:Background: Globally, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) remain a significant public health problem especially among young women. In Ethiopia, the prevalence of STDs among femal youths aged 15-24 years old continues to be a problem of young population. However, the factors associated with this problem is poorly studied. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess sexual behavior and prevalence of STDs and factors associated among young women attending health facilities in Northern Ethiopia. Methods: A Facility-based cross-sectional study was employed among 326 young women aged 15 to 24 years from May 1 to 30, 2013. A multistage sampling technique was used to select young women attending outpatient facility. A pre-tested interviewer guided structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was entered, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Bivariate and multivariate logistics regression analyses were done to identify the associated variables. A p-value of 0.05 with 95% CI were used as a cutoff point to examine the statistical association. Results: From the total of 326 sample, 305 young women were participated in this study with a response rate of 93.6%. The median age at first sex was 17 years (range 9-24 years). The prevalence of self-reported STDs in the last 12 months preceding the survey was 21.3%. One hundred fourteen (40.4%) of the young women had poor knowledge on STDs mode of transmission and prevention. Having two or more sex partners, not using condoms, poor knowledge on STDs mode of transimission and prevention, and a previous history of STDs were found to be significantly associated with self reported STDs. Conclusions: In this study the sexual behavior, not using condom and prevalence of STD was found to be high. Many young women had started early sexual contact and have poor utilization of condom. Hence, the youth friendly services, partner treatment and life skill communication with parents should be enhanced through the joint effort of all concerned stakeholders.

Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections and associated factors among the University of Gondar students, Northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

“…In this study, students with poor knowledge of STIs were more likely to develop STIs than students with good knowledge. This finding agrees with those of other studies conducted in Mekelle [25], Wolaita Sodo University [27], and Bahir Dar town [33].…”

“…The finding is comparable with those of studies conducted on the University students in Wolaita Sodo (19.5%) [22] and Addis Ababa (15.74%) [23]. But, this finding was slightly lower than those of other studies conducted on Debre Birhan University students (28%) [24] and female youth at Mekelle (21.3%) [25]. The possible difference from Mekelle study might be due to the difference in the study area and study subjects were selected from the health facilities where there was a high probability of finding suspected cases.…”

“…Having the previous history of STIs had a positive association with the development of STIs, that is, students who previously had STIs were more likely to develop STIs than students with no such history. This finding was supported by researches conducted from the United States [37] and Mekelle [25]. This might be due to relapse, untreated sexual partner, poor compliance with treatment, inappropriate treatment, and antimicrobial drug resistance.…”

Seroprevalence and Predictors of Hepatitis B Virus Infection among Pregnant Women Attending Routine Antenatal Care in Arba Minch Hospital, South Ethiopia

“…In contrast, some studies have shown that there was no significant association between abortion and seropositivity of HBsAg among pregnant mothers [ 22 , 34 ]. Hepatitis B virus infection is sexually transmitted and the transmission increases with the duration of sexual activity and number of sexual partners [ 35 , 36 ].…”

Magnitude and Associated Factors for Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Hawassa Industrial Park Workers, Southern Ethiopia

“…Similar studies conducted among high school students at Bahir-dar and HIV patients in Ayder referral hospital, Northern Ethiopia reported that the prevalence of STIs is 13.1% and 8.5% reported to have syndromes of STIs respectively (Gebremichael H et al, 2017) (Gebrelibanos A et al, 2015). Study conducted among young women in Northern Ethiopia shows that self-reported prevalence of STIs in the last 12 months was 21.3% (Fisseha G AE, 2015). Surveillance conducted in Ethiopia in 8 health facilities located in Amhara, Oromia and Addis Ababa reported that commonest syndrome was vaginal discharge 50%, urethral discharge 31%, genital ulcer/sores 9%, lower abdominal pain 7.3%, and two syndrome were present in few patients 3% (FMOH, 2015).…”