Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behaviour among Mizan Aman College of Health Science Students, Bench Sheko Zone, South West Ethiopia, Cross Sectional Study, 2019

Background: Substance use and its problems arising are increasing all over the world, and currently together with HIV/ AIDS epidemic, become one of the most threatening and challenging social and public health problems. The objective of this study was aimed to fill information gap on substance use and risky sexual behavior among students in Mzan Aman College of Health Science, Southwest Ethiopia. Methods: A Descriptive facility based cross sectional study was conducted in Mizan Aman College of Health Science using 299 students from June 1/2019 to June 30/ 2019. Simple random sampling technique was used to select eligible students. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data based on study objectives. Descriptive data such as frequency and percentage was carried out by using SPSS version 21. Result: All 299 study participants responded and which yielding 100% response rate. Majority 222(74.2%) of participants were age between 18 to 24 years and 176(58.9%) were males. This study showed that overall prevalence of substance use among study population was 83 (27.75%). The most commonly used substance was chat 102(34.5%), followed by alcohol 72(24.1%) and illicit drugs (1.7%). Out of the total respondents, 188 (62.9%) had reported that they have had sexual experience in their life time. Study findings also indicated that 44 (14.7%) participants had multiple sexual partners in the last three months and 28 (9.4%) of males had sex with commercial sex workers. Conclusion: The prevalence of substance use among Mizan Aman College of Health Science students was high. Study showed that the majority of the students were engaged in unsafe and risky sexual practices. So, awareness creation about safe sex practice should be promoted by responsible bodies such as government officials, college managers and volunteers who work on reduction and prevention of sexual transmitted diseases burdens among young populations.