Epidemiological Findings of Alcohol Misuse and Dependence Symptoms among Adolescent Girls and Young Women Involved in High-Risk Sexual Behavior in Kampala, Uganda

Yunia Mayanja, Onesmus Kamacooko, Daniel Bagiire, Gertrude Namale and Janet Seeley
Additional contact information
Yunia Mayanja: Medical Research Council/ Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRC/UVRI & LSHTM) Uganda Research Unit, P.O. Box 49, Plot 51-59 Nakiwogo Road, Entebbe 256, Uganda
Onesmus Kamacooko: Medical Research Council/ Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRC/UVRI & LSHTM) Uganda Research Unit, P.O. Box 49, Plot 51-59 Nakiwogo Road, Entebbe 256, Uganda
Daniel Bagiire: Medical Research Council/ Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRC/UVRI & LSHTM) Uganda Research Unit, P.O. Box 49, Plot 51-59 Nakiwogo Road, Entebbe 256, Uganda
Gertrude Namale: Medical Research Council/ Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRC/UVRI & LSHTM) Uganda Research Unit, P.O. Box 49, Plot 51-59 Nakiwogo Road, Entebbe 256, Uganda
Janet Seeley: Medical Research Council/ Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRC/UVRI & LSHTM) Uganda Research Unit, P.O. Box 49, Plot 51-59 Nakiwogo Road, Entebbe 256, Uganda

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-13

Abstract: Alcohol-related harms may be increased among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) involved in sex work, yet data on alcohol misuse among AGYW in sub-Saharan Africa are still scarce. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 15–24-year-old AGYW from January 2013 to December 2018 in Kampala, Uganda and used the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) to study alcohol use patterns and dependence symptoms (dependence score ≥4). Of 1440 participants (median age 21 years), 83.1% had less than secondary education, 79.8% reported ≥10 paying sexual partners in the past month, 46.0% had ever experienced intimate partner violence (IPV), and 20.6% were living with HIV. Overall, 59.9% scored ≥8 and 29.4% scored ≥16 on the AUDIT. Of 277 (15.8%) with dependence symptoms, 69.1% were screened alcohol dependent. An AUDIT score ≥8 was associated with older age, illicit drug use, experiencing IPV, inconsistent condom use with paying partners, and HIV sero-negativity. All factors remained associated with a higher score ≥16 except HIV status. Similarly, illicit drug use, experiencing IPV and inconsistent condom use were associated with dependence symptoms and, in addition, a higher number of paying sexual partners. Alcohol misuse is high in this population, they urgently need harmful substance use reduction interventions.

Keywords: adolescents; female sex workers; alcohol misuse; sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6129/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6129/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6129-:d:402964

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().