Sexual practices among unmarried adolescents in Tanzania Method

Background: Sexual activities are increasingly changing from the cultural point of view what they used to be. Knowledge of these practices among adolescents may be a basis to create awareness among adolescents on practices that involve risks. This study aims to assess sexual practices among unmarried adolescents in Tanzania. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among in-school and out-of-school but unmarried adolescents aged 10 to 19 in five locations in Tanzania. A questionnaire was used to collect information and to characterize sexual practices among these adolescents. Results: About 32% of adolescents reported being sexually active; a higher proportion being males than females. The only inquired and reported sexual practices include vaginal sex, masturbation, oral and anal sex. About 15% of sexually active adolescents reported having multiple sexual partners. Significantly more males reported having multiple partners than females. Nearly 42% of sexually active adolescents reported having used a condom during most recent sexual act. Females reported older partners at first sexual act. Conclusion: Adolescents experience several sexual practices that include penetrative and nonpenetrative. More males reported being sexually active than females. Despite adolescents reporting having multiple sexual partners, reported condom use during the most recent sexual act was low. We advocate for a more enhanced approach of reproductive health education that includes safer sex to adolescents without forgetting those in-schools. Background Sexuality and sexual practices differ in context because of cultural and social environmental differences that exist in the society [1]. Although there is a great variability in sexual practices, particularly in sub-Saharan countries, such practices were always considered to go hand in hand with in taboos and cultures [2-4]. A tendency of increasing proportion of sexually active adolescents in Tanzania has been reported earlier [5,6]. Among the public health concerns are some of the reported types of sexual practices in the region that increase the risk for adverse health outcomes. A study conducted in Zimbabwe indicated that the most common type of sexual practice is penetrative vaginal sex and other forms were reported to be rare [7]. Although homosexual as well as heterosexual anal intercourse may have been practiced earlier in the continent, they are more being disclosed in recent times in different parts of Africa [8]. A recent study done in Kenya found that, apart from penilePublished: 6 October 2009 BMC Public Health 2009, 9:373 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-373 Received: 19 September 2008 Accepted: 6 October 2009 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/373 © 2009 Kazaura and Masatu; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.