| dc.description.abstract |
Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, is the virus that causes AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS destroys the body's ability to fight off infection and has killed an estimated 32 million people to date. The disease has spread rapidly, particularly in certain regions of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa has been devastated by the epidemic; however, the disease has spread less rapidly in Ghana. Sexual intercourse is one way to contract HIV/AIDS - in fact, it is thought to be the primary way. To combat the epidemic, health care providers, educators and governments have tried to influence people's behavior by endorsing safer sex with condoms, partner fidelity and/or abstinence. Although a controversial and less popular option in today's culture, abstinence remains the only behavior that eliminates all risk of sexually contracting HIV/AIDS. The media has proven to be effective in increasing awareness of sexual health issues, particularly HIV/AIDS, but how influential has it been in an individual's decision to abstain? Where do abstainers get their HIV/AIDS information? If abstinence is considered a desirable behavior by societies, this information can be used by public health campaign designers to effectively target individuals with this message, particularly in Ghana where infections peak later. At the time this research began, previous data on the last complete Ghana Demographic and Health Survey concluded that the media increased awareness of condom usage and partner fidelity but not abstinence. Using the 1998 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, this study explores sources of information in the survey that were used most often by men and women who did not begin or stopped sexual intercourse, with a focus on the influence of the media and its potential to influence sexual behavior. A series of logistic regressions demonstrated that all of the media-related sources of information were significant for women, depending on each outlet's availability. For men, school, was the only significant source of information in the decision to not start sex; there were no social or media sources of information found to influence men's decision to stop. |
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