Koffi Alain K, Kawahara Kazuo
Department of Health Policy Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Science, Tokyo, Japan.
BMC Public Health. 2008 Dec 16;8:408. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-8-408.
Sexual abstinence is the best available option for preventing both pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. Identifying the factors associated with sexual abstinence among youths would have meaningful implications in a generalized HIV epidemic country such as the Côte d'Ivoire. Thus, we explored sexual abstinence behavior among never-married individuals aged 15 to 24 in Côte d'Ivoire and assessed factors that predict sexual abstinence.
We obtained data from the nationally representative and population-based 2005 Côte d'Ivoire AIDS Indicator Survey, conducted from September 2004 to October 2005. Our sample included 3041 never-married people aged 15 to 24. Of these, 990 reported never having sexual intercourse (primary abstinence) and 137 reported sexual experience but not in the 12 months prior to the survey (secondary abstinence). In all, 1127 youths reported sexual abstinence practice.
Of the 3041 never-married youths, 54.4% were male and 45.6% were female. About 33.0%, 6.7%, and 37.1% of them were practicing primary, secondary, and sexual abstinence behavior, respectively. Females of higher education level were significantly 11.14 times as likely as those of no education to practice either primary or secondary abstinence. Males who were animists, had no religion, or were practicing religions other than Christianity or Muslim were significantly less likely than other male youths to practice sexual abstinence (OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.30-0.95). Living in the north-west region of the country significantly decreased the odds of sexual abstinence among female youths. Similarly, female youths living in rural areas were significantly 0.42 times as likely as those in the urban zones to practice sexual abstinence.
HIV/AIDS prevention program components could include media campaigns, educational intervention improvement, as well as promoting policies that shape female youth livelihoods. Likewise, youth involvement in initiatives to design appropriate messages, and activities to promote positive behaviors or to change negative perceptions could impact on youths' decision to exert abstinence behavior.
禁欲是预防怀孕和包括艾滋病毒/艾滋病在内的性传播感染的最佳可行选择。在像科特迪瓦这样的艾滋病毒广泛流行的国家，确定与青年禁欲相关的因素具有重要意义。因此，我们探讨了科特迪瓦15至24岁未婚者的禁欲行为，并评估了预测禁欲的因素。
我们从2004年9月至2005年10月进行的具有全国代表性的基于人群的2005年科特迪瓦艾滋病指标调查中获取数据。我们的样本包括3041名15至24岁的未婚者。其中，990人报告从未有过性行为（初次禁欲），137人报告有性经历但在调查前12个月内没有（二次禁欲）。总共有1127名青年报告有禁欲行为。
在3041名未婚青年中，54.4%为男性，45.6%为女性。其中约33.0%、6.7%和37.1%分别有初次、二次和禁欲行为。受过高等教育的女性进行初次或二次禁欲的可能性是未受过教育女性的11.14倍。信奉万物有灵论、无宗教信仰或信奉基督教或穆斯林以外宗教的男性进行禁欲的可能性明显低于其他男性青年（比值比=0.53，95%置信区间=0.30-0.95）。生活在该国西北部地区显著降低了女性青年禁欲的几率。同样，生活在农村地区的女性青年进行禁欲行为的可能性仅为城市地区女性青年的0.42倍。
艾滋病毒/艾滋病预防计划的组成部分可包括媒体宣传、教育干预改进以及制定改善青年女性生计的政策。同样，青年参与设计合适信息的倡议以及促进积极行为或改变负面观念的活动可能会影响青年做出禁欲行为的决定。
