Survey of condom use among college students

Abstract

Abstract:

In June 1993, a condom use survey was done on 391 volunteer students in the Gondar College of Medical Sciences (GCMS). Of the 228 who were sexually active, 47.9% had used condoms at least 'once in the last six months preceding the survey. During the study period, condom use was reported by 84.9%, and 33.3% of the respondents who said they had contacted commercial sex workers were found positive with at least one of the Conventional sexually transmitted diseases. However, among 175 who claimed not to have sexual contact with commercial sex workers, only 64 (36.5%) used condom. Besides, the association of condom use with demographic factors and high risk sexual behaviours was analyzed. Age, sex and history of contact with commercial sex workers were shown to have statistically significant association. Eighty six students (54.5%) in the 20-24 age group and 18 students (27.7%) in the 15-19 age group used condoms. The proportion of male students using condom (46.5%) was higher than that of female students (1.3%). It is suggested that condoms should easily be made available to students and sex education be part of health education sessions. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1995;9(1 ):7-11 ]