Knowledge and prevalence of common sexually transmitted infections among patients seeking care at selected health facilities in Southern Ghana

Araba Ata Hutton-Nyameaye, Morrison Asiamah, Karikari Asafo-Adjei, Charles Kwaku Benneh, Adwoa Oforiwaa Kwakye, Kofi Boamah Mensah, Kwabena Obeng Duedu, Kwame Ohene Buabeng, Jana Jarolimova (Editor)

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Abstract

The burden of Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remains a public health problem thatshould be addressed considering its effect on society and close association with HIV. Thisstudy aimed to determine the knowledge and prevalence of common STIs and associatedrisk factors among adult patients seeking STI care in health facilities in Ho Municipality. Thiswas an analytical cross-sectional study involving 178 adult clients seeking treatment for suspected STIs, from November 2020 to April 2021. Data on participants’ demographic characteristics, knowledge and health-seeking behaviour for STI therapy was obtained. Urine andblood samples were also taken from each participant for microbiological screening to identify the infecting pathogen and the specific STI. Multiple logistic regression and chi-squareanalyses were used to test the significance of associations. Of the 178 participants, 71.91%(n = 128) were women and 61.24% (n = 109) were unmarried. About 13% (n = 23) had poorknowledge of STIs. Prevalence of the STIs was 24.72% (n = 44) of which gonorrhoea wasthe highest 11.24% (n = 20), followed by chlamydia 10.11% (n = 18) and syphilis 7.30% (n =13). Of all the participants, 3.37% (n = 6) had co-infections with at least 2 pathogens. Infection with all three pathogens was observed in a single participant. Participants who weremarried were associated with 61% reduced odds of sexually transmitted infection comparedto participants who were unmarried (AOR = 0.39; Cl = 0.17–0.89). Participants who smokedhad 6.5 times increased odds of the infection compared to nonsmoking participants (AOR =6.51; Cl = 1.07–39.56). Although knowledge of STIs was high, it did not appear to contributeto lowering of the prevalence. This suggests there may be other factors other than awareness or knowledge driving STIs. There is an urgent need for further studies to ascertain the drivers of STIs beyond knowledge and awareness in the public.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0003422
Pages (from-to)1-12
Number of pages12
JournalPLOS Global Public Health
Volume4
Issue number7
Early online date1 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished online - 1 Jul 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright: © 2024 Hutton-Nyameaye et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Access Statement

Data Availability Statement: The data has been uploaded as supporting information/supplementary file.

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