KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, PREVENTIVE PRACTICES AND TREATMENT-SEEKING BEHAVIOUR REGARDING SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES AMONG COMMERCIAL SEX WORKERS IN IBADAN.

Abstract

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) constitute a major public health problem in both developed and developing countries of the world. In Nigeria, they rank among the top five infections for which people seek care and have an average prevalence rate of 9.3 percent. Commercial sex workers (CSWs) constitute a 'high risk' group for STDs and a study of their knowledge, attitude, preventive practices and treatment-seeking behaviour is important for any STD control measure. The present study was carried out in order to assess the knowledge, attitude, preventive practices and treatment-seeking behaviour of CSWs regarding STDs. The survey was conducted in the 5 local government areas of Ibadan municipality. Twenty-three of the 33 brothels identified in the municipality were randomly selected and all the consenting CSWs in these brothels so selected were interviewed. ln all, 295 CSWs were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results showed that majority of the CSWs were young adults with a mean age of 28.6 years. One hundred and fifty-seven (53.2%) of them were within the 20-29 year age group. Sixty-three (21.4%) had no formal education, 50 (16.9%) had completed primary school, 88 (29.8%) had some secondary school whilst 53 (18.0%) had completed secondary school. Their general knowledge of STDs was fair but there was poor knowledge of symptoms of STDs as 165 (54.2%) and 154 (42.2%) did not know that infection with gonorrhoea and HIV respectively may be asymptomatic; also 163 (55.3%) did not know that gonorrhoea can cause vaginal discharge. The respondents' attitude towards HIV/AIDS as a health problem was quite positive with 259 (87.8%) regarding it as an important health problem in Nigeria. However their perceived risk of contracting the infection was low with only 64 (21.7%) indicating that they could acquire the infection. Two hundred and sixty (91.2% ) respondents engaged in some form of preventive practice including the use of condoms, drug prophylaxis and medical check up. ln case respondents suspected that they had STDs, 190(64.4%) reportedly would go to hospital for medical advice whilst 19 (6.4%) indulge in self-treatment. For the management of cases of STD 167 (56.6%) would prefer care in private hospitals because of confidentiality and the individual attention enjoyed by clients. Based on these findings, recommendations were made. These include an aggressive STD education campaign through workshops and seminars for the commercial sex workers, improving the quality of services of STD treatment facilities (both public and private), as well as educating health workers on the importance of confidentiality in the care of STD patients.