Patterns and Determinants of Consistent Condom Use Among Cameroonian Soldiers

Background Despite numerous health promotion interventions lately conducted, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. It is reported that military personnel have a higher prevalence of HIV, compared with the general population. Condom use remains a cheap, easy-to-use, and effective device to prevent the spread of HIV. Growing evidence, however, suggests its underuse among the military personnel. Methods The current cross sectional study included 325 consenting male and female soldiers from 8 different battalions. Characteristics of the study participants were summarized using frequencies and proportions. Associations between the studied variables were investigated using the Chi-square test of independency; P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results were presented in the form of tables and graphs. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 20.0. Results Only 28% of the participants used condom during the last unsafe sexual contact. Over 85% of them reported that condoms were always available. Half (50%) of the participants were ashamed to buy condoms. The most commonly reasons for not using condoms were drunkenness (37.5%), trust in the sexual partner (26.5%), tobacco smoking (11.1%), not interested to use a condom (8.9%), and dislike/refusal of condom use by the partner. Main reasons of inconsistent use of condoms included drunkenness, shyness to buy condoms and unavailability in the respective battalions. Trust in sex partners, condom use/sex related stigma, and alcohol abuse were the major determinants of inconsistent condom use during unsafe sexual relations among Cameroonian soldiers. Conclusions Unprotected sexual practice amongst Cameroonian soldiers was high. Despite the reported high availability of condoms (85%), only 28% of the study respondents used condoms during their last sexual intercourse with different partners. Consistent condom use was sub-optimal among Cameroonian military staff.