BU Research Blog

Today ResearchGate alerted us that our paper ‘Nepalese Trekking Guides: A Quantitative Study of Sexual Health Knowledge And Sexual Behaviour’ [1] has been cited 300 times.  This paper links between Tourism and Public Health in the field of sexually transmitted infections in travellers and tourism workers. This article, in an Open Access journal, is co-authored by BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen with BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada and Psychology colleagues from the University of Southampton.

This study assessed sexual behaviour, knowledge and condom use among male trekking guides in Nepal. A questionnaire (n=324) was administered to Nepali men working as mountain trekking guides. Most respondents (59%) had initiated sex before the age of 18. Most (84 %) reported sexual relations with a woman other than their partner, 46% reported foreign partners, 43% had Nepalese partners, and 28% had concurrent foreign and Nepalese partners. Most (70 %) reported ever having sex with a foreign woman and two-thirds had had sexual intercourse with foreign women in the previous 12 months. Participants’ age, education status, age of first sex, smoking and drinking habits and English proficiency were significant predictors of having sex with foreign women. About 60% reported condom use during their most recent occasion of extra-marital sex. A similar proportion had used a condom during last sexual intercourse with a foreign woman.

The likelihood of condom use was associated with a guide’s age, educational level, ethnicity, age of first sex and work experience. Most trekking guides reported sexual relations with foreign women as well as irregular use of condoms. Although sexual health knowledge about among trekking guides is high, some misconceptions still result in unsafe sex. Hence there is an urgent need to revise the existing training for trekking guides and implement appropriate health promotion programmes.

Reference:

1. Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P., Bhatta, P., Ingham, R., & Stone, N. (2015). Nepalese Trekking Guides: A Quantitative Study of Sexual Health Knowledge And Sexual Behaviour. J Manmohan Memorial Inst Health Sci, 1(4), 35-42.  https://doi.org/10.3126/jmmihs.v1i4.12000