Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb 13;7(2):e06265.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06265. eCollection 2021 Feb.

The relationship between accurate knowledge on HIV/AIDS transmission and adolescent pregnancy in Ghana: A further analyses of the 2017 multiple cluster indicator survey

Emmanuel Brenyah Adomako  1 , Kwabena Frimpong-Manso  1 , Petronella Munemo  2 , Henry Ofori Duah  3 , Pascal Agbadi  4
Affiliations

The relationship between accurate knowledge on HIV/AIDS transmission and adolescent pregnancy in Ghana: A further analyses of the 2017 multiple cluster indicator survey

Emmanuel Brenyah Adomako et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Background: The literature posits that HIV knowledge is associated with precautious sexual behaviour and practice. We hypothesised and investigated the association between knowledge of HIV transmission and adolescent pregnancy in Ghana, given that the relationship between HIV knowledge and adolescent pregnancy has not been extensively studied.

Methods: We did analyses on 5836 cases (weighted as 5121) of 15-24 years old reproductive age women in the female dataset of the 2017 Multiple Cluster Indicator Survey. Adolescent pregnancy was operationalized as reproductive age women between 15-24 years who became pregnant before the age of 18 years. Accurate HIV knowledge was measured by computing the scores of correct responses on six questions exploring women's knowledge about HIV transmission. We accounted for sample design and weight before performing a Chi-square test of independence and Poisson regression.

Results: The results indicate that having lower scores on the HIV transmission knowledge scale was correlated with a higher probability of girls becoming pregnant before their 18th birthday. After controlling for the moderating effect of socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, we found that accurate HIV transmission knowledge loses its statistical significance in determining adolescent pregnancy. The factors that remain significant in the adjusted model were formal education status, household wealth, and region of residence. HIV transmission knowledge was statistically significantly related to adolescent pregnancy in the model after the education level variable was omitted. This observation was due to the significant effect of school education on other variables in the model. This result demonstrates that HIV knowledge has a major impact on adolescent pregnancy, but this effect is predicated by formal education attainment of the adolescent girl.

Conclusions: Given the results, adolescent pregnancy issues can be resolved by the government and other development partners by adequately educating adolescents about HIV transmissions. Also, because they have the potential to reduce pregnancy among adolescents in Ghana, we recommend that programs and initiatives should address existing disparities in formal educational attainment and household wealth.

Keywords: Adolescents; HIV/AIDS; Pregnancy; Transmission.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Adzitey S.P., Adzitey F., Suuk L. Teenage pregnancy in the Builsa district: a focus study in Fumbisi. J. Life Sci. Biomed. 2011;3(3):185–188.
    1. Agyemang S., Buor D., Tagoe-Darko E. The extent of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among young people in the Ejura-Sekyedumasi district of Ghana. J. AIDS HIV Res. 2012;4(11):241–247.
    1. Ahorlu C.K., Pfeiffer C., Obrist B. Socio-cultural and economic factors influencing adolescents’ resilience against the threat of teenage pregnancy: a cross-cultural survey in Accra, Ghana. Reprod. Health. 2015;12(117) - PMC - PubMed
    1. Akinsulure-Smith A.M., Chu T., Keatley E., Rasmussen A. Intimate partner violence among West African immigrants. J. Aggress. Maltreat. Trauma. 2013;22:109–126. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Amponsem-Boateng C., Acheampong K., Ganu D., Amponsah-Gyan E. Teenage pregnancy among senior high school children as a public health issue in the Amansie West district of Ghana. Reprod. Health. 2018;4(3)

LinkOut - more resources