Sexual Behavior and Knowledge of AIDS among Female Trade Apprentices in a Yoruba Town in South-Western Nigeria

This exploratory study was carried out among unmarried female trade apprentices in Ikorodu, a Yoruba town in south-western Nigeria, to identify sexual risk behaviors, assess knowledge on HIV/AIDS, and recommend an appropriate AIDS education program. Four focus groups were conducted to gain insight into the social-cultural and economic factors influencing sexual risk behaviors, followed by a survey involving 280 randomly selected respondents. Findings showed that many group discussants approved of premarital sex and believed that sex with multiple partners occurred mainly because of the economic difficulties encountered by female apprentices. Most of the survey respondents (70.9%) were sexually experienced, with age of first sexual intercourse ranging from eleven to twenty-two years. One hundred and fifty-five (78.2%) were sexually active; of these, 37.4 percent said that their last sexual encounter occurred because they could not resist the pressure put on them by their male partners, were under the influence of alcohol, were in need of money, and raped. Sixty percent of the sexually active respondents did not take any action to prevent STD or pregnancy during their last sexual encounter. Of the fifty-eight who did, 37.9 percent used the condom. Of those sexually experienced (45.3%) have had at least one STD symptom in the year before, half of them did not do anything about their condition; 37 percent practiced self-medication or received injections from quacks. Although 70.9 percent had heard about AIDS, many had limited knowledge about the nonsexual routes of HIV transmission. Appropriate intervention strategies were recommended to educate the apprentices.