Condom Use among Adolescents in Burkina Faso in the Era of HIV/AIDS

Guiella Georges, Institut Superieur des Sciences de la Population (ISSP) and Université de Ouagadougou

Many researches carried out on adolescent behaviors, including unsafe sexual practice have shown that environmental, family, and individual factors are associated with a range of adolescent risky behaviors. Using a unique set of data collected in 2004 from nationally-representative survey of adolescents, this study examines adolescent risky and protective sexual behavior by measuring risky sex. Descriptive findings show that 11% of males adolescents had sex in last 12 months with more than 2 partners but didn’t use a condom. The logistic regression approach used to estimate the relationship between adolescent’s condom use and their social and demographic characteristics shows that the odds of condom use increased with years of schooling (p<.01). Residence (urban/rural) is a significant predictor of condom use, with condom use in big cities being 5 times the level of rural areas (p<.01). Knowing someone who is HIV positive doesn’t have a statistically significant effect on condom use.