Orotta College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Asmara, Eritrea

Orotta College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Asmara, Eritrea

Orotta College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Asmara, Eritrea

Orotta College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Asmara, Eritrea

Orotta College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Asmara, Eritrea

Orotta College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Asmara, Eritrea

Orotta College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Asmara, Eritrea

Assistant Professor, Fatima College of Health Sciences, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Utilization ,voluntary counselling and testing service ,RHS ,students ,EIT ,

Background: Unprotected sex is one of the riskiest behavior that young people can undertake, particularly in settings where HIV/AIDS is widespread. Nevertheless, reproductive health service (RHS) leads youth to have safe sex life, capability to reproduce and free to decide on sexual matters. Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) provides an opportunity for individuals to ascertain their HIV status, then to protect and prevent both transmission to others and re-infection for themselves. Thus, the aim of the study was to assess VCT service utilization and barriers among selected students in Eritrea Institution of Technology (EIT).Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive and inferential study design were used to describe the data collected from 509 students aged 19-26 years. Data was collected using self-administered structured questionnaire after ethical approval and consent were obtained from the respective bodies. Statistical significant was considered when p value is less than or equal to 0.05. Those with significant association were further analyzed via bivariate and multivariable logistic regression using SPSS (Version 20). Results: VCT service was utilized by 26% of the participants. Out of the total participants (89.2%) who had heard about VCT service, 60.8% got their information from mass media. Despite the ample information about VCT, utilization of the service by the sexually experienced individuals was (29.3%) and found to be statistically insignificant (X2=-1.404, p=0.236, df= 1). Moreover, the participants who never discuss regarding sex-related issue with father and mother than those who discuss sexual matters with father and mother never utilized VCT were found to be statistically significant at X2=43.712a, p<0.001, df=2) and X2= 24.985a, p<0.001, df= 2, respectively. Besides, religion and discussion of sex-related issue with both parents were found to be the main predictors of VCT utilization. Conclusions: Utilization of VCT among EIT students was found to be fair. Large proportions of the participants have heard about VCT and the main source of information was mass media. However, approximately one third of participants ever utilized VCT. On the other hand, discussion about sexual matters with both parents and religion were found to be main predictors of VCT use. Therefore, interfamily discussion about sex matters is suggested in order the youth to decide safe sex and utilize reproductive health services.

10 , 1 , 2020