Family planning and STI/HIV: knowledge and practices of adolescents in high school Monseigneur Luc Sangare in Bamako

Abstract

Our study included 330 adolescents School Monseigneur Luc Sangare in Bamako. This was a prospective crosssectional study of three months from 02 January to 30 March 2007. The objective was to study the behavior of students said school on family planning and knowledge on STI/HIV. Were included in this study, male and female students enrolled for the 2006-2007 school years and who have given their consent. A questionnaire was given to each participant to gather information on the knowledge of family planning and STI/HIV. We found that almost all of the students had heard of family planning, or 99.4 %, 97.3 % associate the birth spacing. The best known contraceptive methods were condoms (97.9%), the pill (72.4 %). About STIs, HIV (99.7 %) and gonorrhea (46.1%) were the most cited, 83.3 % of students knew that HIV is transmitted through the use of syringes and 76.4 % sexually. The use of condoms (92.4 %) was the most common means of prevention. The main sources of information were the media and friends. The information did not come from parents. Despite their knowledge of STI/HIV, most teenagers do not use condoms during their first sexual intercourse while 32.7% of students had a high-risk behavior.