Sexual Risk behaviour and Associated Factors among Governmental Higher Institution Students in Debre Markos Town, North West Ethiopia

Sexual and reproductive health problems are among the main causes of death, disability, and disease among young people worldwide particularly in Africa. This study aimed to assess sexual risk behaviour and associated factors among governmental higher institution students in Debre Markos town, North West Ethiopia. Methods: A cross sectional study design was applied among randomly selected 774 students in Debre Markos town. Data was collected using validated, pre coded, pre tested, and self administered questionnaire on youth risky sexual and reproductive behavior. The analysis contains descriptive statistic, bi-variate and multivariate logistic regression. Results: In this study 33.3% of the respondents were sexually active. Seventy nine (33.2%) have multiple partner, 93(39.1%) had used condom inconsistently and (13.9%) had sexual contact with commercial sex workers. The overall prevalence in the last 12 months was 42.0%. Peer pressure [AOR3.23(2.42,5.05)], chat chewing [AOR:3.14(1.34,6.08)], alcohol use [AOR2.67(1.59,4.82)], living arrangement [AOR:3.04(1.79,8.44)], religious attendance [AOR:0.71(0.55,0.92)] and participating in health related club [AOR: 0.364 (0.182, 0.73)] were associated with sexual risk behaviours. Conclusion: Considerable number of governmental higher institution students in the study area had practiced sexual risk behaviours. So school based reproductive health interventions like negotiate condom use, youth friendly sexual and reproductive health services are needed to prevent sexual risk behaviours.