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Understanding the complexities of sexual relationships is essential to understand the risky sexual behaviours among young people in Ugandan universities. Nine focus group discussions conducted with 31 males and 33 female students in 2014 utilising the grounded theory approach explored the role of sexual relationships in their lives. 'Relationships in campus are situationships' emerged as the core category and referred to the variety of sexual interactions within relationships among young people in a Ugandan university. The study findings indicated that sexual interactions often follow a sexual script that undergoes transitions to negotiate various situations. The sexual scripts in these situationships were strongly influenced by local socio-cultural norms and global aspirations among young people. Students often discussed these sexual scripts within a wider discourse on transactional sexual relationships. The motivations for transactional sexual relationships ranged from 'fulfilling aspirations' of various kinds on the one hand to 'being forced into trading sex' to overcome socio-economic vulnerabilities. Sexual relationships were facilitated by the perception of a university as a sexualized space in which one may enjoy a period of emerging adulthood characterized by exploration in relationships, access to alcohol and prolonged delay in assuming the traditional adult roles of marriage and family. The sexual scripts at the cultural level were grounded in traditional gender roles although at the same time, were under transition during university life with the growing influence of globalization and consumerism in the Ugandan society. Young men and young women must be engaged to critically challenge the implicit assumptions about sexual interactions within various situations that may put them at risk for poor sexual health outcomes.

A two-arm, open label, randomized study, evaluated the test characteristics of visual inspection of cervix with Acetic acid(VIA) and Lugol‟s Iodine(VILI) in detecting cytology diagnosed squamous intraepithelial lesion(SIL) in 1160 women of known HIV status in southwestern Nigerian. Using SIL as reference standard and the HIV status masked, VIA and VILI had similar test characteristics except for the positive predictive value in which VIA value of 91.5% was significantly higher than 77.7% for VILI ( p=0.01). Among HIV positive women, VILI performed poorly across all the 4 test characteristics compared to VIA. Among severely immuno-compromised HIV positive participants VILI performance was consistently below 80% across all test characteristics (sensitivity-70.0%; specificity-66.9%; positive predictive value-46.7%; negative predictive value(NPV)-50.0%) compared to VIA (Senstivity-71.3%; specificity-88.2%; positive predictive value-83.3%; negative predictive value -88.2). Our study shows that VILI is insufficiently sensitive and specific in the presence of HIV infection especially in those with severe immunosuppression. Based on VIA‟s acceptable sensitivity and NPV in all situations, it is recommended for cervical cancer screening in HIV positive women and in settings of high HIV burden.

Background: Increasingly evidence is emerging from south East Asia, southern and east Africa on the burden of default to follow up care after a positive cervical cancer screening/diagnosis, which impacts negatively on cervical cancer prevention and control. Unfortunately little or no information exists on the subject in the West Africa sub region. This study was designed to determine the proportion of and predictors and reasons for default from follow up care after positive cervical cancer screen. Method: Women who screen positive at community cervical cancer screening using direct visual inspection were followed up to determine the proportion of default and associated factors. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine independent predictors of default. Results: One hundred and eight (16.1%) women who screened positive to direct visual inspection out of 673 were enrolled into the study. Fifty one (47.2%) out of the 108 women that screened positive defaulted from follow-up appointment. Women who were poorly educated (OR: 3.1, CI: 2.0 – 5.2), or lived more than 10 km from the clinic (OR: 2.0, CI: 1.0 – 4.1), or never screened for cervical cancer before (OR: 3.5, CI:3:1–8.4) were more likely to default from follow-up after screening positive for precancerous lesion of cervix . The main reasons for default were cost of transportation (48.6%) and time constraints (25.7%). Conclusion: The rate of default was high (47.2%) as a result of unaffordable transportation cost and limited time to keep the scheduled appointment. A change from the present strategy that involves multiple visits to a “see and treat” strategy in which both testing and treatment are performed at a single visit is recommended.

Background: In Uganda, adolescent pregnancy often results in adverse maternal and neonatal health outcomes. In this context, low use of contraception and high rates of maternal mortality rate make preventing unwanted pregnancies critical. Objective: The objective was to determine the relationship between non-use of contraception and sociodemographic factors, alcohol consumption, and types of partner(s) among Ugandan university students. Design: In 2010, 1,954 students at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in southwestern Uganda participated in a cross-sectional study whereby a self-administered questionnaire was used to assess sociodemographic factors, alcohol consumption, and sexual behaviour including the use of contraceptives. Multivariable logistic regression was used for the analysis and data were stratified by sex. Results: 1,179 students (60.3% of the study population) reported that they were sexually active. Of these, 199 (18.6%) did not use contraception in their last sexual encounter. Students currently not in a relationship had higher odds of non-use of contraception (odds ratio 1.8, 95% confidence interval 1.22.7). The association remained statistically significant for both males and females after controlling for age, sexual debut, area of growing up, and educational level of the household head. Socio-demographic determinants of age (22 or younger), early sexual debut (at age 16 years or earlier), and a rural background were significant for males but not for females. A synergistic effect between not currently being in a relationship and early sexual debut were also observed to have an effect on the non-use of contraception. Conclusion: Non-use of contraception among Ugandan university students differs for males and females, possibly due to gendered power relations. Sexual and reproductive health policies and programmes should be designed to take these differences into account. Keywords: contraception; Uganda; sexual debut; gender; pregnancy; sexual behaviour (Published: 8 October 2012) Citation: Glob Health Action 2012, 5 : 18599 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/gha.v5i0.18599