Risky sexual practice and associated factors among HIV positive adults attending anti-retroviral treatment clinic at Gondar University Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION: Risky sexual practice among people living with HIV/AIDS is a public health concern because of the risk of transmission of the virus to sero-discordant partner/s. There is also the risk of re-infection with new, drug resistant viral strains between sero-concordant partners. However, there is lack of information on risky sexual practices among HIV positive adults. Therefore, this study aimed to assess risky sexual practice and associated factors among adult HIV positive clients at Gondar University Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia, 2015. METHODS: An institution based cross sectional study was conducted at Gondar University Referral Hospital from May to June 2015. A pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Using systematic random sampling technique, a total of 513 respondents were participated in this study. The data were entered into EPI info version 3.5.3 and transferred to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses were done. A P-value <0.05 was considered to determine the statistical significance of the association between factors (independent variables) and risky sexual practice. The Odds ratio was also used to determine the presence and the degree of association between the dependent and independent variables. RESULTS: A total of 513 respondents were participated in this study. The prevalence of risky sexual practices in the past three months was 38% (95% CI: 33.3%, 42.3%). Being in the age range of 18–29 years (AOR = 2.63, 95% CI: 1.55, 4.47) and 30–39 years (AOR = 2.29, 95% CI: 1.48, 3.53), being single (AOR = 6.32, 95%CI: 2.43, 16.44),being married (AOR = 6.06, 95% CI: 2.81, 13.07), having no child (AOR = 2.58, 95% CI: 1.17, 5.72), and a CD4 count of greater than 500/mm(3) were factors significantly associated with risky sexual practices. CONCLUSIONS: A considerable number of HIV positive clients had risky sexual practices. It is strongly recommended that the Regional Health Bureau and health service providers working at Gondar University Hospital especially in the ART Clinic need to work hard on behavioral change communication.