Health seeking and sexual behaviour of men presenting with sexually transmitted infections in two primary health care clinics in Durban

Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain a major public health problem globally, with men being the main transmitters of infections. A high prevalence of curable STIs is reported in adults aged between 15 and 49 years, and the delay in seeking treatment has adverse consequences for both the individual and population.Objective: A study was undertaken to assess the factors associated with the health seeking and sexual behaviour of men presenting with STIs at the two primary health care sites in eThekwini metropolitan area.Method: A cross-sectional study design with systematic random sampling was used. Data were collected using an intervieweradministered questionnaire and analysed using STATA.Results: Some 23% of the 134 participants delayed coming to the clinic after noticing the signs and symptoms of an STI. Participants were 5.89 (95% CI 1.49–23.32) times more likely to delay seeking treatment if they sought medical help only when perceiving an illness to be severe, and three times more likely to delay (borderline result) if they only used a condom when sober (OR 3.16; 95% CI 0.99–10.06). Staff stigma and the bad attitude of nurses were factors that delayed men visiting the clinic for STI treatment and this was reported by 76 (56.7%) of the participants.Conclusion: Delayed health seeking behaviour amongst men with STIs remains a major challenge. Appropriate interventions are required to deal with factors associated with delayed health seeking behaviour amongst men with STIs.