Sexting and high sexual risk-taking behaviours among school youth in northern Ethiopia: estimating using prevalence ratio

BACKGROUND

Increasing access to digital technology to young people in low-income settings has greatly influenced their porngraphy viewing and sexting, receiving and/or sending of sexual explicit materials via electronic devices. These change the sexual communication and behaviour of the young population. However, evidence to attest this change is not available in our setting. Thus, this study examined the relationship of high sexual risk-taking behaviour with sexting and pornography viewing among school youth in Ethiopia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2015 by selecting school youth using a multistage sampling procedure. Data were collected using a pre-validated anonymous facilitator-guided self-administered questionnaire. Poisson regression was run to calculate adjusted prevalence ratio with its 95% confidence intervals. All differences were considered as significant for p values ≤0.05.

RESULTS

In total, 5924 questionnaires were distributed, and 5306 (89.57%) school youth responded in full to questions related to outcome variables. Of these respondents, 1220 (22.99%; 95% CI 19.45 to 26.96) were involved in high sexual risk-taking behaviour; 1769 (33.37%; 95% CI 30.52 to 36.35) had experienced sexting and 2679 (50.26%; 95% CI 46.92 to 53.61) were viewing pornography. The proportion of high sexual risk-taking behaviour was three-fold among pornography viewers (adjusted prevalence ratio (APR) 95% CI 3.02 (2.52 to 3.62)) and two-fold among sexters (APR 95% CI 2.48 (1.88 to 3.27)) as compared with their counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS

Exposure to sexually explicit materials via communication technology is associated with increased high sexual risk-taking behaviour among school youth in northern Ethiopia. Considering these emerged predictors of sexual behaviours in our sexual education programmes, further research in this area is essential.

Postnatal care utilization among urban women in northern Ethiopia: cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND

Postnatal care service enables health professionals to identify post-delivery problems including potential complications for the mother with her baby and to provide treatments promptly. In Ethiopia, postnatal care service is made accessible to all women for free however the utilization of the service is very low. This study assessed the utilization of postnatal care services of urban women and the factors associated in public health facilities in Mekelle city, Tigrai Region, Northern Ethiopia.

METHODS

A facility based cross sectional study design was used to assess post natal service utilization. Using simple random sampling 367 women who visited maternal and child health clinics in Mekelle city for postnatal care services during January 27 to April 2014 were selected. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS Version 20.0 software. A binary and multivariable logistic regression was used to identify risk factors associated with the outcome variables. P-value less than 0.05 is used to declare statistical significance.

RESULTS

The prevalence of women who utilized postnatal care service was low (32.2%). Women who were private employees and business women were more likely to utilize postnatal care services (AOR = 6.46, 95% CI: 1.91-21.86) and (3.35, 95% CI: 1.10-10.19) respectively compared to house wives., Women who had history of one pregnancy were more likely to utilize the service (AOR = 3.19, 95% CI: 1.06-9.57) compared to women who had history of four and above pregnancies. Women who had knowledge of postnatal care service were also more likely to utilize postnatal care service (AOR = 14.46, 95% CI: 7.55-27.75) than women who lacked knowledge about the services.

CONCLUSIONS

Postnatal care utilization in the study area is low. Knowledge on postnatal care services and occupation of women had positive impact on postnatal care service utilization. The Mekelle city administration health office and other stakeholders should support and encourage urban health extension workers and health facilities to strengthen providing health education to improve the knowledge of the women about the importance of postnatal care services.

Family planning use and associated factors among pastoralist community of afar region, eastern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND

Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa with a total fertility rate (TFR) of 4.8 children per a woman and contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) of 29 %. The overall prevalence of modern family planning in a pastoralist community, like Afar region, is low (9.1 %). This study aimed to assess family planning utilization and associated factors among married women of Afar region, Eastern Ethiopia.

METHODS

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 10-28, 2013 among 602 women. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Descriptive and multiple variable logistic regression analyses were done to isolate independent predictors on utilization of family planning using SPSS 20.

RESULTS

The overall prevalence of family planning utilization in Afar region was 8.5 % (6.2-10.7). Majority of the women (92.2 %) had used injectable. The most common reasons mentioned in the non-use of family planning methods were religion-related (85.3 %), desire to have more children (75.3 %), and husband's objection (70.1 %). Women who had a positive attitude towards family planning utilization (AOR = 4.7, 95 % CI: 2.1, 10.3), owning radio (AOR = 1.8, 95 % CI: 1.02, 4.18), and literate (AOR = 4.4, 95 % CI: 1.80, 11.08) were more likely to use family planning methods as compared to their counterparts. The increase of monthly income was also associated with the likelihood of family planning methods utilization. The odds of using family planning methods were higher among those with monthly income of $27-$55.5 (AOR = 2. 0, 95 % CI: 1.9, 4.7) and > $55 (AOR = 4. 6, 95 % CI: 1.23-17.19) as compared to women with the lowest category of monthly income ($27 and less).

CONCLUSION

The low coverage of family planning in the region could be due to the influence of husband, religious and clan leader. Attitude of women towards family planning methods, possession of radio, monthly income, and educational status could influence family planning utilization.