Knowledge about HIV/AIDS Among Secondary School Students
Gupta, P.; Anjum, F.; Bhardwaj, P.; Srivastav, J.; Zaidi, Z.H.
North American Journal of Medical Sciences 5(2): 119-123
2013
ISSN/ISBN: 2250-1541 PMID: 23641373 DOI: 10.4103/1947-2714.107531Document Number: 571760
HIV/AIDS has emerged as the single most formidable challenge to public health. School children of today are exposed to the risk of HIV/AIDS. The study was conducted to determine the knowledge among secondary school students regarding HIV/AIDS and provide suggestions for HIV/AIDS education in schools. A cross-sectional study was conducted among students of tenth to twelfth standard in the intermediate schools of Lucknow, India, from July to October 2011. A total of 215 students, both boys and girls, were enrolled in the study. In this study, for majority of the students (85%), the source of information about HIV/AIDS was the television. Regarding knowledge about modes of transmission of HIV/AIDS among girl students, 95.1% of them told that it is through unprotected sex. A total of 75.8% students said that it was transmitted from mother to child. It was observed that the knowledge of the school students was quite satisfactory for most of the variables like modes of transmission, including mother-to-child transmission of the disease. However, schools should come forward to design awareness campaigns for the benefit of the students.