Condom use by Senior High Technical School Students in Sandema, Upper East Region, Ghana

Abstract

For over a decade now, adolescent sexual and reproductive health and more especially condom use, has increasingly been on national agendas. In many countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, this concern has been driven by the high prevalence of HIV and AIDS among young people. Other driving forces of comparable magnitude have been the following; - 800 women died every day in 2013 due to pregnancy related causes. A chunk of it occurred in Sub – Saharan Africa (SSA). - One in 5 women has a child by age 18. Again, the worse scenario is in SSA. - One million STIs occur every day. The developing world is still the worse affected.

In Ghana, both government and non – governmental organisations have made frantic efforts at improving adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Unfortunately, however, many adolescents still do not use condom or use it wrongly during sex. This thus predisposes them to unplanned / unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and AIDS among others. This study assessed the level of condom use among Sandema Senior High Technical School students in Sandema to inform evidence based adolescent health programming. The study was a cross – sectional design and it employed quantitative data collection approaches. A sample size of 427 SSHTS students was selected using multi – stage sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data and Stata (version 12) used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that 71.2% of the students use condom (69.3% for females and 72.2% for males). A bivariate analysis indicated that age group of the students, having received training on condom use, condom use at first and last sex, fear of the consequences of not using a condom (pregnancy, STIs, etc), partner/friends influence, source of condoms to students, ability to afford, and ethnicity were significant determinants of condom use (p<0.0001). Multiple logistic regression however, revealed that only age group of respondents, condom use at sexual debut, last sexual encounter, having received training on condom use and fear of the consequences of not using a condom (pregnancy, STIs, etc) were the main correlates of condom use among the students. Condom use was not consistent among the respondents. This predisposes them to unintended pregnancy and STIs including HIV. A multi-sectorial approach involving the ministries of Health, Education and Local Government as well as NGOs, Faith-based organizations and families of young people should collaborate in implementing adolescent friendly programmes aimed at taking the attention of the youth off sexual activity. Where this is not feasible, condom use should be greatly emphasized.