SAMUEL SILOMBA

8. PERCEPTIONS OF CONDOM USE AND SEXUAL RISKS AMONG OUT-OF-SCHOOL YOUTHS IN THE ,

INTRODUCTION The fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, especially among youth, continues to be a challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, including Zambia. Young people continue to be the most affected by HIV/AIDS in terms of transmission, vulnerability, and impact. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 2013) indicates that recent surveys in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa have detected decreases in condom use and an increase in the number of sexual partners, especially among youth. UNAIDS (2013) also reports that HIV prevalence among young women remains more than twice as high as among young men throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In Zambia, more than 50% of the population is under 20 years of old and constitutes the group most vulnerable to new HIV infections (National AIDS Council [NAC], 2009). This chapter explores the perceptions of condom use and sexual risks among out-of-school youth. The chapter is the result of a study carried out in 2011 on the perceptions and management of sexual and HIV risks among out-of-school youth in Zambia’s Nakonde District. The study was motivated by the existing gap in research between out-of-school youth and school-going youth. According to Hunt (2008), very few studies have investigated situations of out-of-school youth in relation to HIV/AIDS and health in general. This has created a gap in research on how out-of-school youth learn about HIV/AIDS, and how they perceive and manage sexual risks (Bastien, 2009).

CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION ON OUT-OF-SCHOOL YOUTH The problem of out-of-school youth has been reported to be huge in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of out-of-school children rose from 29 million in 2008 to 31 million in 2010 (UNESCO, 2012). UNESCO defines out-of-school as children in the official age range that are not enrolled in school. In Zambia the official age range for primary to secondary school is 7 to 18 years (Central Statistical Office [CSO], 2004). Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for half of all out-of-school children worldwide and has the highest out-of-school rate of all regions (UNESCO, 2012). Out-of-

A. Breidlid et al. (Eds.), Perspectives on Youth, HIV/AIDS and Indigenous Knowledges in Africa, 113–128. © 2015 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved. SILOMBA school youth in sub-Saharan Africa are assumed to be more vulnerable to HIV infection because they lack formal education, which might be a tool for accessing vital information on HIV/AIDS (Bastien, 2008). Researching out-of-school youth in northern ’s Kilimanjaro region, Bastien (2008) discovered that the process of disengaging from school was highly complex and multifaceted, with several factors such as poverty, bereavement among family members, orphanhood, health, and pregnancy linked to dropping out of school. Hunt (2008) indicates that pregnancy was a significant cause of dropout for teenage girls and that several factors militate against girls’ re-entry into school despite there being favorable policies in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Bastien (2008) adds that, although strides have been made in increasing access to primary education, there continue to be barriers to enrollment and completion at primary level as well as transition and retention at the secondary level. In Zambia, out-of-school youth are presumed to be vulnerable to HIV due to poor knowledge about HIV/AIDS, gender inequality, and poverty, and the related behavior of transactional and intergenerational sex, early marriage, alcohol use, peer pressure, and a negative attitude towards condom promotion among youth (Kalibala & Mulenga, 2011). Mukuka and Slonim-Nevo (2006) reported that out- of-school youth in Zambia were at higher risk of contracting AIDS because they were significantly more likely to engage in unprotected intercourse and that they were mostly found in bars, open markets, and streets. In a study of 60 out-of-school girls in , it was found that a substantial percentage of them engaged in high- risk sexual behavior, including unprotected anal intercourse, compared to in-school youth. These adolescents primarily had sex with middle-aged Zambian men (the “sugar daddy” syndrome), who were much more likely to be HIV-positive than adolescent boys (Mukuka & Slonim-Nevo, 2006). However, other studies have tried to show that there is no link between school attendance and effectively learning about HIV/AIDS and sexual behavior change. Anthony Simpson’s ethnography of a cohort of pupils educated at a mission school that he followed for years beyond secondary and tertiary education shows that the boys, who had now become men, were having unprotected sex despite their education and knowledge of HIV/AIDS (Simpson, 2009). A general survey by Kankasa et al. (2005) also found that school attendance was not effective in gaining and applying knowledge about sexual behavior change and condom use. Kankasa et al. (2005) encountered several cases of infected teenagers that had adequate and correct knowledge of sexual transmission routes. Similarly, Maluleke (2010) found that, although the majority of youths in the Vhembe District of South Africa’s Limpopo Province had received life skills or life orientation education and had higher levels of education, they still engaged in risky sexual behavior and did not use the skills and knowledge gained to prevent exposure to HIV and other STIs. This chapter focuses on exploring issues that surround condom use and sexual risks among out-of-school youth in Zambia’s Nakonde District. In order to explore how out-of-school youths perceive sexual risks, it is vital to conceptualize sexuality, gender, and risk in relation to HIV/AIDS.

114