All data pertaining to this study are contained and presented in this document. Risky sexual practice is a major public health problem in Ethiopia. There are various studies on the prevalence and determinants of risky sexual practice in different regions of the country but there is no study which shows the national estimate of risky sexual practices in Ethiopia. Therefore, this review was conducted to estimate the national pooled prevalence of risky sexual practice and its risk factors in Ethiopia.
The meta-analysis was conducted using Review Manager software. Descriptive information of studies was presented in narrative form and quantitative results were presented in forest plots. The Cochran Q test and I 2 test statistics were used to test heterogeneity across studies.
A total of 31 studies with 43, participants were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of risky sexual practice was Being male OR: 1. The prevalence of risky sexual practices is high in Ethiopia. Being male, substance use, peer pressure and viewing pornographic materials were found to be associated with risky sexual practices.
Therefore, life skills training is recommended to reduce peer pressure among individuals. Interventions should be designed to reduce substance use and viewing pornography.
Risky sexual practices increase the likelihood of sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortion. Ethiopia is one of the sub-Saharan countries with a high burden of sexual and reproductive health problems, risky sexual practices increase this burden. The prevalence of risky sexual practices varies from place to place in Ethiopia. Poor knowledge of sexual and reproductive health services, peer pressure, substance use and poverty are factors associated with risky sexual practices.
