Sexual Risk Practices Among Youth and Adolescents in Haiti

Around ten young people and adolescents interviewed by AyiboPost admit to not using condoms at all or to using them haphazardly during intercourse, including sometimes with strangers

Fabiola does not use condoms during sex. The teenager, who has just been admitted to 12th grade, says she feels itchy for several days after using condoms. Instead, Fabiola advocates “fidelity and trust”: she has only one sexual partner and hopes that he only maintains one relationship.

Fabiola “never” wants to communicate her aversion to condoms to her parents. Her mother is not even aware that she has been sexually active for three years.

AyiboPost spoke with around ten young people and adolescents who, like Fabiola, admit to not using condoms at all or to using them haphazardly. Many seem to know the risks. But some people lack the information to protect themselves.

Instead, Fabiola advocates “fidelity and trust”: she has only one sexual partner and hopes that he only maintains one relationship.

The conservatism of certain schools and parents on sexual issues does not help, say specialists. Risky sexual practices endanger the health of young people and represent a risk to public health. HIV, syphilis, herpes, chlamydia, genital warts, etc. “are generally transmitted during unprotected sexual intercourse,” says general practitioner Kerry Norbrun, for whom sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are an underestimated scourge in the country.

In an article published on AyiboPost in July 2024, specialists say they are observing more and more cases of adolescents suffering from HIV in the country. Marvin – 23 years old – also rejects condoms. The young man has at least 15 sexual encounters per month, sometimes with strangers and without protection.

Poul boure, bourèt, kiyè bwa, ponmkèt, bètrav, labapen, dan krab, zonyon… Marvin relies on creative vocabulary to describe his preferences. Anulingus, commonly called zonyon, consists of stimulating the anus with the mouth. Its practitioners are not always aware of the state of health of their partners. They expose themselves “to the risk of catching hepatitis viruses types A and E,” since these viruses causing inflammation of the liver are transmitted by the fecal-oral route, warns internist Ted Barnard Charles.

Anulingus, commonly called zonyon, consists of stimulating the anus with the mouth. Its practitioners are not always aware of the state of health of their partners.

When Steeve Decosse experimented with anal sex, it was for the pleasure of his girlfriend. Since this “unprotected” encounter, he says he can no longer do without it. “I don’t really know the specific risks related to this act. I didn’t think about it anyway,” Decosse says.

Many young people are looking for each other and engaging in sexual experimentation. The quest for thrills is not enough to explain these phenomena, observers say. “It is also a quest for identity and self-understanding through sexuality,” says Deborah Douyon, feminist activist.

However, sex education remains lacking in Haiti, putting young people at risk.

Jimmy Dagléat, 26 years old, has been having sex since the age of 13 in Martissant. He knew neither the risks nor how to protect himself from them in an environment of pornography and heavy alcohol consumption. “The question of sexuality was never discussed within my family,” confides Dagléat, for whom sex had “become an addiction”. He says he was “completely unaware of the risks and consequences.”

These experiments are often accompanied by substance abuse. Juno Cadichon, 22, is a fan of threesomes. During these encounters, he and his partners take mixtures of chicha, cannabis, alcohol, Viagra, etc. These substances, the abusive use of which creates dependence and carries health risks, allow them – says Cadichon – to “surrender to pleasure”.

Most health institutions in the metropolitan region are either closed or operating with difficulty due to insecurity. But many sexually active adults and young people fear screening tests. Specialists contacted by AyiboPost call for support for vulnerable young people, the introduction of awareness campaigns and educational reform.

By Lucnise Duqureste & Rebecca Bruny