Factors Influencing New Hiv Infections Among Youth (15 – 24 Years) in Nairobi County a Case Study of Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital
Abstract
Background
There are rising cases of adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 years
that are active sexually which is enhancing their risk of contracting Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted infections. Though Sub
Saharan African countries have made notable improvement in controlling new HIV
infections, the youth aged between 15 and 24 years remain at high risk.
Objective
This research sought to study the factors influencing new HIV infections in the youth aged 15
to 24 years in Nairobi County, so that it can inform policy and adoption of targeted
interventions.
Methodology
The study was conducted at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital located in Embakasi Sub-County,
Nairobi County through a case-control study. Quantitative data was gathered through a semi
structured questionnaire on the Open Data Kit. The population for the case-control study was
the youth aged between 15 and 24 years who visit Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital seeking
health services. Controls were systematically random sampled while cases were selected to
achieve the computed sample size of 424 participants. Ethical considerations of approval,
informed consent and confidentiality were upheld. Collected quantitative data was analyzed
utilizing descriptive analysis whereas logistic regression analysis was applied to determine
whether the independent variables were predictors to the new HIV infection among those
aged 15 to 24 years.
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Results
Out of the 424 participants who were included in the study, 75% were controls and 25%
cases. The female participants represented 57.8% and 42.2% were males. The median age is
21, age ranges from 15 to 24, with an inter-quartile range 19-23. Majority of the respondents
were single representing 69.6% and married 30.4%. Majority were Christians representing
85.6% (n=363). In the Univariable analysis of the factors influencing new HIV infection
among youth, marital status, area of residence, source of income, age, level of education,
household income, age at first sexual encounter, risk behavior of HIV, condom use in last the
sexual activity, STIs in the last one year and sexual partner type were found to be
significantly associated with new HIV infections among the youths (15-24 years) in Nairobi
County, at 20% of level of significance.
Results from multivariate analysis indicated that age (aOR-=2.7; 95% CI 1.1-6.2 ), area of
residence (aOR=2.1; 95% CI 1.2-3.7), condom use in the last sexual encounter (aOR=2.1;
95% CI 1.2-3.8), STIs in the last one year (aOR=7.5; 95% CI 4.1-13.7) and sexual partner
type (aOR=5.4; 95% CI 1.8-16.5) were statistically significant predictors of new HIV
infection among youths (15-24years) at 5% significant level. Even after exclusion of the nonsignificant
variables in the model, this did not lead to over 30% change in regression
coefficients of the remaining variables.
Conclusion
Socio-demographic factors have significantly significant influence on new HIV infections
among youth (15 – 24 years) in Nairobi County.
Recommendation
The government and other stakeholders in HIV prevention should come up with programs on
enhancing implementation of preventive measures such as condom use and basic principles
such as ABC(abstain, be faithful and condom use) specifically geared towards the youth.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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