Demographic Barriers to Knowledge of HIV and Sex: An Analysis on Ugandan Adolescents Aged 13-14 Open Access
Allen Kingsley (Summer 2025)
Abstract
Past research has shown considerable gaps in knowledge of Uganda’s adolescent population regarding the subjects of HIV and safe sexual practices. Efforts must be undertaken to examine potential reasons as to why certain groups of children may be more or less informed on HIV and sexual health compared to others. This study’s objective was to identify the associations of awareness of HIV and knowledge of sex with demographic characteristics in Ugandan adolescent children. Data from the Adolescent Questionnaire of the UPHIA 2016-2017 survey were analyzed. The study sample included 696 adolescents after identifying questionnaire respondents and excluding all respondents with missing data on awareness of HIV and knowledge of what sex was. The exposures consisted of the following demographic characteristics: age, sex, enrollment in school, urban or rural area of residence, geographic region of residence, and wealth quintile. The outcomes were knowledge of what HIV was and knowledge of what sex was. Logistic regression analyses were conducted between each outcome and each demographic characteristic. Bivariate regression models were used to estimate crude odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals, and multivariate regression models that adjusted for other demographics were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. The findings show that children who were from the West Nile region were less likely to have heard of HIV at a statistically significant level, and that children from the West Nile and MidNorth regions were less likely to know what sex was at a statistically significant level. The results indicate that there were notable knowledge gaps in the sample at large, indicating that intervention efforts may be needed across the nation, and that there were significant associations between the outcomes and the aforementioned regions, which could have implications for the designs of future studies and interventions, as well as areas to target with such interventions. Improving educational efforts to teach children and adolescents about HIV and sexual health, as well as implementing a survey instrument to monitor adolescent sexual health and behaviors, could contribute to the success of HIV prevention initiatives among adolescents and ultimately reduce HIV transmission.
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..………1
Methods…………………………………………………………....………………………………3
Results…………………………………………………………….…...…………………………..5
Discussion…………………………………………………………....……………………………7
Figures and Tables…………………………………………………..….….….….….……….….13
References……………………………………………….………….….….….….…...…..……...17
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