Introduction

Data on the sexual behavior among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) dwelling at HIV prevalent setting located at the periphery of Ethiopia is lacking. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate sexual practice of patients following their antiretroviral therapy (ART) service and factors affecting their behavior.

Materials and methods

A facility based cross-sectional study design was employed to assess risky sexual practice and associated factors among HIV positive adults attending ART clinics in Gambella town, Southwest Ethiopia. Risky sexual practice is defined as a custom of getting in at least one of the following practices such as condom-unprotected sex with any partner, having two or more sexual partners and practicing casual sex in the last three months. A total of 352 randomly selected clients were interviewed by using a structured questionnaire. The multivariable logistic regression model was used to examine the association between covariates and the outcome variable.

Results

Majority of the study participants were engaged at least in one of the risky sexual practices (79.8% confidence interval (CI): 75.3% - 83.9%). The multivariable analysis found that the odds of risky sexual practice were higher among individuals who use substances (‘khat’ users (AOR: 3.82, 95%CI:1.30–11.22), smoke cigarette (AOR:4.90, 95%CI:1.19–12.60), consume alcohol (AOR: 2.59, 95%CI:1.28–5.21)); those who never discuss about safe sex with their partner/s (AOR: 2.21, 95%CI:1.16–4.21); those who have been in attachment for longer duration (more than four years) with their partner (AOR: 3.56, 95%CI: 1.32–9.62); and groups who desire to bear children in their future life (AOR: 3.15, 95%CI:1.40–7.04) as compared to their respective comparison groups.

Conclusions

A significant number of participants were engaged at least in one of the risky sexual practices which potentially result in super infection by a new or/and drug resistant viral strain/s, and onward transmission of the virus. Thus, an HIV intervention program which focuses on the identified factors has to be implemented to mitigate risk of unsafe sexual behavior of this population group and move towards ending the HIV/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic.

中文翻译：

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在埃塞俄比亚艾滋病毒高发地区的城市地区，艾滋病毒感染者中的高危性行为：干预措施的意义

介绍

缺乏关于居住在埃塞俄比亚周边艾滋病毒流行地区的人类免疫缺陷病毒（PLHIV）感染者之间性行为的数据。因此，本研究旨在调查患者接受抗逆转录病毒治疗（ART）后的性行为以及影响其行为的因素。

材料和方法

一项基于设施的横断面研究设计被用来评估埃塞俄比亚西南部甘贝拉镇参加ART诊所的HIV阳性成年人的危险性行为和相关因素。危险的性行为被定义为一种习惯，即至少在以下三个月中采取以下一种行为，例如与任何伴侣进行无保护套的性行为，拥有两个或多个性伴侣并进行随意性行为。使用结构化问卷对总共352名随机选择的客户进行了采访。多变量逻辑回归模型用于检验协变量与结果变量之间的关联。

结果

大多数研究参与者至少参与了一种危险的性行为（79.8％的置信区间（CI）：75.3％-83.9％）。多变量分析发现，使用吸毒者（“ khat”使用者（AOR：3.82，95％CI：1.30–11.22），吸烟（AOR：4.90、95％CI：1.19-）的个人中，进行危险性行为的几率更高12.60），饮酒（AOR：2.59、95％CI：1.28-5.21））；那些从未与伴侣讨论安全性行为的人（AOR：2.21，95％CI：1.16-4.21）；与伴侣保持长期（四年以上）关系的人（AOR：3.56，95％CI：1.32-9.62）；以及希望在未来生活中生育孩子的群体（AOR：3.15，95％CI：1.40–7.04）。

结论

大量参与者至少参与了一种危险的性行为，有可能导致新的或/和抗药性病毒株超级感染以及病毒的继续传播。因此，必须实施一项针对已查明因素的艾滋病毒干预计划，以减轻该人群的不安全性行为风险，并朝着结束艾滋病毒/后天免疫机能丧失综合症（AIDS）流行迈进。