Sexual behaviour, perception of HIV/AIDS and condom use among commercial motorcylists in Benin City.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to evaluate the perception of HIV/AIDS, condom use and the sexual behaviour of commercial motorcyclists in Benin-city, Edo State.

DESIGN

A questionnaire based study involving consecutive 160 male commercial motorcyclists.

SETTING

The study was conducted in three randomly selected major motorcycle parks in Benin-city. The three parks were selected using a multi stage random sampling technique. In each of the selected parks, consecutive motorcyclists were interviewed until a total of 160 respondents had been interviewed.

RESULTS

One hundred and fifty-two (95%) of the respondents were acquainted with the subject of HIV/AIDS, but only 140(87%) believed that the disease actually existed. Sixty-six per cent of the respondents had multiple sexual partners while 26% of the subjects had been treated for a sexually transmitted infection. Of the 54 (34%) men who believed the disease had a cure, 46% and 32% felt that the cure was herbal and spiritual respectively. Although 106 of the men (66%) acknowledged the preventive function of the condom in the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, only 45% used the condom regularly with sexual partners. Sixty-two per cent of the respondents would submit themselves to voluntary HIV screening though none had gone for voluntary screening.

CONCLUSION

The study suggests that the sexual behaviour of the commercial motorcyclist and a scarcity of information expose him to increased risk of HIV/AIDS infection and other sexually transmitted infections.