Abstract:
Background: There is limited information on Sexual behaviors and Perceived risks of HIV infections among out of school youth especially in rural settings. It is of public health importance to investigate this topic in Mpimbwe DC in Katavi region, to inform policy makers, prevention and intervention programs.
Objectives: To determine Sexual behaviors and perceived risks of HIV infections among out of school youth in Mpimbwe DC.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was adopted using structured interview questions to collect data from a total of 320 unmarried out of school youths aged 15-24 years. Data was analyzed using the statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic data, mean and standard deviation was computed for continuous data. A p-value of less than 0.05 was used as a cut-off point for assessing statistically significant.
Results: A total of 320 participants with mean age of 18.9 (SD±2.17) years were interviewed. About 52.8% were above 18 years and 51.6% were males. More than a quarter 26.6% did not attend schools, 55% had primary education. Nearly all study participants (97.8%) had practiced vaginal sex, while fairly few (2.5%) reported to have practiced frotteurism. The majority (76.9%) of respondents reported pleasure as the main reason of having sex for the first time followed by induced by gifts and money. The perception of risk to HIV infection in the study was fairly low, more than a third (34.1%) of the study participants perceived to at no risk of HIV infection and only 14.1% believed their risk was high. The large proportional (70.3%) of the respondents reported that the partners of first sexual experiences were friends (lovers).
Conclusion: The study findings revealed that out of school youths in the study area practiced different types of sexual behaviors such as oral, vaginal, while their perception of risk to HIV infections is low.
There is a need for targeted interventions to address inaccurate perception of risk to HIV infections and bring about sexual behaviors change among these out of school youth so as to protect them from acquiring HIV.
