Dataset Information

Willingness to use PrEP among female university students in Lesotho.

ABSTRACT: Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV-negative individuals at high risk was introduced in Lesotho in April 2016. To assess the feasibility and acceptability of PrEP in Lesotho and to study the attitudes and beliefs around HIV risk and prevention measures among young women, between September and December 2016 we asked 302 female university students at fourteen higher education institutions in Lesotho about their sexual behavior, experiences of sexual coercion and abuse, HIV risk perception, willingness to use PrEP, as well as their attitudes toward condom use and self-administration of daily medications. Overall, 57.3% of the sample reported perceiving themselves at risk of acquiring HIV and 32.1% reported being strongly willing to use PrEP if it were available in their community. In a multivariate mediation analysis, perceived HIV risk was associated with 11.5 percentage points increase in likelihood of using PrEP (p = 0.041). Multiple concurrent sexual partnership was associated with 16.1 percentage points increase in likelihood of self-perceived HIV risk (p = 0.007), while having sexual partners in polygamous relationships was associated with 17.8 percentage points increase in likelihood of self-perceived HIV risk (p = 0.002) and the mediated indirect effect accounted for 18.2% of its total effect. Those who reported strong adherence to antibiotics were 23.1 percentage points more likely to express willingness to use PrEP than those who did not (p = 0.004), and those who reported to dislike condoms were 19.1 percentage points more likely to be willing to use PrEP than those who did not report aversion to condom use: these effect were direct and not mediated by HIV risk perception. Intimate partner violence (IPV) in the network of peers was also directly associated with willingness to use PrEP and its effect was not significantly mediated by HIV risk perception: those who had friends who experienced intimate partner violence were 14.9 percentage points more likely to be willing to use PrEP than those who did not report IPV in their network of peers (p = 0.009). These findings support the inclusion of individuals with multiple concurrent sexual partners among the key populations for PrEP provision and confirm that willingness to use PrEP is not solely driven by HIV risk perception. They also indicate that the presence of IPV in peer networks is related to one's willingness to use PrEP. PrEP service provision may generate synergies with IPV prevention programs when offered within this framework.

SUBMITTER: Karletsos D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7108705 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Willingness to use PrEP among female university students in Lesotho.

Karletsos Dimitris D Greenbaum Charlotte R CR Kobayashi Emily E McConnell Margaret M

PloS one 20200331 3

Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV-negative individuals at high risk was introduced in Lesotho in April 2016. To assess the feasibility and acceptability of PrEP in Lesotho and to study the attitudes and beliefs around HIV risk and prevention measures among young women, between September and December 2016 we asked 302 female university students at fourteen higher education institutions in Lesotho about their sexual behavior, experiences of sexual coercion and abuse, HIV risk perception ...[more]

PMID: 32231394

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Project description:In Uganda, the risk of unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions remains high due to relatively low contraceptive use. There is paucity of data on knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices towards modern contraceptives and, sexual and reproductive health especially among the young female university students.A survey was conducted at Makerere University main campus in Kampala, Uganda during April 2014. A team of well-trained and experienced research assistants interviewed female undergraduate students who provided data on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, perceptions and attitudes and use of contraceptives, as well as other sexual and reproductive health practices. Users of any contraceptive method in the past 12 months were coded as '1' and none users as '0'. The prevalence of contraceptive use was determined as the number of users divided by all female participants. Prevalence ratios (PRs) with their corresponding 95 % confidence intervals were used as measures of association between contraceptive use and associated factors. The PRs were obtained via a modified Poisson regression model using a generalized linear model with Poisson as family and a log link without an offset but including robust standard errors. All analyses were conducted with Stata version 13.A total of 1,008 females responded to the survey; median (IQR) age was 21(20, 21) years, 38.6% in year 2 of study, and nearly three quarters (72.3%) were of Christian faith. Knowledge of any contraceptives was almost universal (99.6%) but only 22.1% knew about female condoms. Perceived acceptability of contraceptive use at the university (93%) or being beneficial to male partners too (97.8%) were high. Nearly 70% had ever engaged in sexual intercourse and 62.1% reported sexual intercourse in the past 12 months. Overall, 46.6% reported current contraceptive use, with male condoms (34.5%) being the commonest methods. Factors associated with higher contraceptive use were being in year 2, consensual union or perception that contraceptives are for females only. However, being evangelical/SDA or perception that contraceptive use is wrong was associated with lower contraceptive use. Overall, 9% reported ever being pregnant, 2% were pregnant at the time of the survey and a third (33.8%) knew of a pregnant friend. About 40% of ever pregnant respondents reported ever trying to terminate the pregnancy.Knowledge, perceived acceptability and benefits of contraceptive use were nearly universal, but contraceptive use was suboptimal in this setting. Ever trying to terminate a pregnancy was common and a clear indicator of unintended pregnancies.

Dataset Information

Willingness to use PrEP among female university students in Lesotho.

Publications

Willingness to use PrEP among female university students in Lesotho.

Similar Datasets

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