Most Ghanaian young women having ‘raw’ sex – GSS
Most young women between 15-24 years in Ghana are having unprotected sex.
This is contained in the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
According to the survey, this is even though 79 percent of the young women are very aware that the consistent use of condoms helps to reduce their risk of contracting HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).
The survey also added that only 36% of young women have a thorough knowledge of HIV prevention methods.
These methods include limiting sexual intercourse to one uninfected partner, knowing that a healthy-looking person can be infected with HIV, and rejecting the most common misconceptions about the transmission of HIV.
The data also reveal that among women aged 15–49, 2% had two or more partners in the last 12 months.
“Among women age 15–49, 23% had sexual intercourse with a person who was neither their husband
nor lived with them,” the survey read.
This comes after the Ghana AIDS Commission revealed that females accounted for two-thirds of total new HIV infections in Ghana.
Data released by the Commission in August 2023 indicated that out of the total 16,574 new HIV infections recorded in 2022, females accounted for 10,927 of the cases while males accounted for 5,647.
Ghana AIDS Commission data also highlighted it as being one of the major agents in spreading the virus.