Risky Sexual Behaviour among Big Construction Enterprise Workers; Bahir Dar City, Amhara Regional State, Northwest Ethiopia

Background: Risky sexual behaviors are the major factors in rising sexually transmitted infections among adolescents and young adults. In Ethiopia construction industry is on increasing and deriving young people from rural area to the cities. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of risky sexual behaviour and factors associated with among construction workers. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in March 2012 among construction workers in Bahir Dar city. The analysis was carried out using SPSS version 16. The data were analyzed in bivariate and multivariate logistic regression. Result: The prevalence of risky sexual behavior among construction workers was 44.9%. Female workers were about four times more likely to have had risky sexual practices than males (AOR = 3.86, 95% CI: 2.34 - 6.37). Respondents whose educational level less than fourth grade were 12 times more likely to be engaged in risky sex than whose educational level tenth grade or more (AOR = 12.13, 95% CI: 1.84 - 79.78). Divorced individuals were about five times more likely to have had risky sexual activities than married individuals (AOR = 4.63, 95% CI: 1.32 - 16.12). Respondents whose first sexual commencement from 15 - 19 years were about three times more likely to have had risky sexual behavior than from 20 - 24 years (AOR = 2.89, 95% CI: 1.70 - 4.91). Besides, the odds of having risky sexual behaviour among construction workers who had sexual partner at the time of the study were about 0.6 times less likely to have had risky sexual behaviours than workers who did not have (AOR = 0.6, 95% CI: 0.38, 0.96). Conclusion: The prevalence of risky sexual behavior among construction workers was 44.9%. Variables such as sex, educational level, marital status, age at first sexual intercourse, presence of current sexual partner and casual sex were found to be independent predictors of risky sexual behaviour. Therefore, interventions targeting on these factors were recommended.