Condom use among antiretroviral therapy naive people living with HIV at a tertiary health care hospital in Lagos, Nigeria: implication for prevention of new infections.

BACKGROUND: The consistent use of male latex condom significantly reduces the risk of HIV infection among men and women.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to assess the prevalence and pattern of male and female condom use among antiretroviral therapy naïve people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Lagos, Nigeria.

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Interviewer administered questionnaires were used to collect demographic data of age, gender, marital status, rate, pattern of and reasons for not using condoms among PLHIV.

RESULTS: Four hundred and forty three respondents were interviewed with age rangefrom 14 to 75 years and a mean of 35 ± 9 years. There were 175 (39.5%) males and 268 (60.5%) females in the study. Overall, 71 (16.0%) of respondents used condom consistently. Only 55 (12.4%) of the respondents were aware of female condom while 9 (2%) used it.

CONCLUSION: This study reveals that there is a low consistent use of male condoms and a very low awareness and use of female condoms among studied PLHIV.