Table 2. Sample characteristics by legal age of consent to independent human immunodeficiency virus testing and counselling, 15 sub-Saharan countries, 2011–2016.
| Characteristic | Legal age of consent, mean value (95% CI) |
|
|---|---|---|
| ≤ 15 years n = 26 779 adolescents | ≥ 16 years n = 35 849 adolescents | |
| Individual-level variable | ||
| Age, years | 16.39 (16.35 to 16.43) | 16.41 (16.37 to 16.44) |
| % of females | 67 (63 to 71) | 60 (54 to 67) |
| % of never married adolescents | 94 (92 to 97) | 92 (88 to 95) |
| % of adolescents who attended secondary school | 36 (28 to 44) | 59 (48 to 69) |
| % of adolescents residing in rural areas | 76 (69 to 82) | 57 (50 to 63) |
| Household wealth quintile, % | ||
| Poorest | 16 (14 to 18) | 15 (14 to 16) |
| Poorer | 19 (16 to 21) | 17 (16 to 19) |
| Middle | 20 (18 to 22) | 21 (20 to 22) |
| Richer | 22 (21 to 24) | 22 (21 to 23) |
| Richest | 23 (19 to 27) | 25 (22 to 28) |
| % of adolescents who ever had sexual interaction | 28 (21 to 35) | 33 (26 to 40) |
| Country-level variable | ||
| HIV prevalence, %a | 6.9 (3.2 to 10.5) | 7.1 (3.1 to 11.0) |
| Adolescent fertility rate, births per 1000 womenb | 96 (65 to 128) | 117 (106 to 128) |
| Health expenditure per capita, PPP in Int$c | 141 (98 to 184) | 176 (79 to 273) |
| Comprehensive HIV knowledge among youth, %d | 44 (33 to 55) | 32 (21 to 42) |
| No. of countries | 6 | 9 |
CI: confidence interval; HIV: human immunodeficiency virus; Int$: international dollars.
a HIV prevalence among adults age 15–49 years.20
b Women aged 10–19 years.21
c Purchasing power parity in constant 2011 Int$.21
d Percentage women and men aged 15–24 years, who correctly identify the two major ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV (using condoms and limiting sex to one faithful, uninfected partner), who reject the two most common local misconceptions about HIV transmission, and who know that a healthy-looking person can have HIV.22
Notes: The individual-level variables are weighted values. We obtained survey data for 15 countries, presented in Table 1, from Demographic and Health Surveys and AIDS Indicator Surveys.