Introduction
Adolescents are among the most vulnerable groups to HIV in a society and information
regarding their sexual health including HIV is inadequate. This study aims at assessing
comprehensive HIV knowledge and condom use among adolescents in Sierra Leone and their
determining factors.
Methods
Adolescents aged 15-19 from DHS Sierra Leone 2013 were studied. Analysis included
comparison with DHS 2008 and assessment of potential predictors for both outcomes.
Statistical tests include Pearson’s chi-squared test and logistic regression analysis.
Results
Prevalence of comprehensive HIV knowledge was 30.2% in 2013 compared to 26.9% in
2008; higher among secondary/higher education (AOR2 2.34, 95% CI 1.90-2.89) and lower
for rural (AOR2 0.83 95% CI 0.69-0.99), married/cohabiting (AOR2 0.65, 95% CI 0.50-0.84),
middle wealth (AOR2 0.70, 95% CI 0.56-0.89), no accepting attitude to HIV (AOR2 0.57,
95% CI, 0.45-0.72) and unknown HIV status (AOR2 0.66, 95% CI 0.56-0.78). Prevalence of
condom use was 8.6% in 2013 compared to 10.6% in 2008; higher among males (AOR2
2.93, 95% CI 2.14-4.01), Christians (AOR2 1.58, 95% CI 1.14-2.16) and adolescents with
multiple sexual partners (AOR2 1.67, 95% CI 1.13-2.41) and lower for primary school
adolescents (AOR2 0.43, 95% CI 0.18 -0.95).
Conclusion
Comprehensive HIV knowledge increased and condom use decreased in 2013 compared to
2008 and several determining factors of both outcomes were identified for DHS 2013. This
study enables targeting vulnerable groups and provides comparable findings which are
informative in planning for broad objective of lowering the burden of HIV/AIDS in the
society and adolescents in particular.