Three Out of Four Young People in Congo Claim To Practice Safe Sex, Study Says
Nearly three out of every four people between the ages of 13 and 24 in the Republic of the Congo claim to practice safe sex, and more than 83% say that they are aware of AIDS and how to prevent the disease, according to a survey released Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports. The study was conducted by the government with support from the United Nations in December 2002 in urban areas throughout the country's 10 regions. The survey found that 73% of the 2,423 young people surveyed claimed to use a condom during sex. The results differed between genders, with 76.8% of men claiming to use a condom, compared with 67.7% of women. Also, when asked whether they were using a condom in their current relationship, 87.3% of men responded "yes," compared with 76.2% of women. The study also found widespread misconceptions about the efficacy of various prevention methods, with 70% of participants responding that condoms were the safest prevention method, 16% responding that sexual faithfulness was best and 7% choosing abstinence as the best way to prevent HIV infection. The overall HIV prevalence in the country is 7%, but that figure is nearly double in the port city of Pointe-Noire (Agence France-Presse, 6/17).
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