Contraceptive Use at an STD Clinic in Kumasi, Ghana

Yaw Adu-Sarkodie, Markus Juerg Steiner, John Dekyem Attafuah

Abstract

We interviewed 298 consecutive clients attending a sexually transmitted diseases (STD) clinic in Kumasi, Ghana to assess their contraceptive practices and willingness to accept male condoms. Almost a quarter of females (22%) and 14 percent of males were diagnosed HIV positive. Condom use among females was low with almost three-fourths (72%) reporting never having used condoms in the past three months. Half the males (47%) said they used condoms all or most of the time. The most common reason for nonuse was desired pregnancy (females 31%; males 20%). Almost all the clients currently using condoms (females 100%; males 89%) said they never had problems obtaining condoms. More males (76%) than females (35%) accepted free condoms distributed at the clinic aspart of this study. (AfrlReprod Health 1998;2(2):57—65)

KEY WORDS: Sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, condoms, developing countries, HIV infections

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