HIV and AIDS related knowledge and attitudes towards learners infected with HIV: Survey among high school learners in Gauteng and North West provinces in South Africa

Abstract

The success of the proposed HIV testing and counselling (HTC) initiative among learners at high school in South Africa depends on their acceptability of the service, which may be influenced by their HIV/AIDSknowledge, perceptions, and attitudes. The study assessed high school learners’ HIV knowledge and attitudes towards learners infected with HIV. The survey was part of formative evaluation with grade 10-12 learners in order to assess the acceptability of HTC at schools. The study consisted of 17 high schools in two provinces in South Africa. T- tests were used to compare the differences in the mean HIV knowledge scores. Logistic regressions were performed to establish relationships between demographic variables, attitudes, and HIV knowledge scores. The sample consisted of 2970 learners aged 14-27years, 1810 (61%) had had sex, and 1494 (50.3%) had tested for HIV in the past year. The majority had high knowledge scores: 87% on HIV-related knowledge, 98.6% on the modes of transmission, and 73% on prevention. Overall, HIV knowledge was high, with a total mean score of 20.5 out of 26 points. There were significant differences in the HIV knowledge total mean scores; females had higher scores (M= 20.6, SD=2.3) than males (M=20.3, SD=2.4), and the younger age group (M= 20.5, SD=2.4) had higher scores than the older age group (M=20.1, SD=2.1). A quarter (25.4%) exhibited negative attitudes, 13.9% felt that HIV-positive learners should be isolated, and 75% would not date HIV-positive learners. Attitudes were associated with gender (OR=0.48, CI: 0.41-0.57), grades (OR=3.24, CI: 2.36-4.44), and total HIV knowledge scores (OR=2.21, CI: 1.43-3.43). Despite substantial HIV knowledge, there were knowledge gaps and misconceptions, which resulted in negative attitudes towards the disease. Appropriate sexual health education and HIV prevention interventions in school are crucial in correcting the knowledge gaps as well as reducing stigma and discrimination to assist learners to be accepting of HIV-positive persons.

Knowledge and attitude on HIV/AIDS among adolescent school children in urban Mysuru, Karnataka, India: a cross sectional study

“…This can be attributed to the mandatory inclusion of HIV in school curriculum and an active particpication of teachers in imparting such valuable knowledge. Similar findings were reported by Sphiwe et al 5 for the knowledge of HIV/ AIDS attributed to the life orientation curriculum in Africa. In contrast studies by Pankaj Kumar et al 6 and Yazdi et al 7 independently revealed that television was the most common source of information while teachers contributed for a smaller proportion in the first study, teachers (66%) were pointed out as the next best source of information in Iran.…”

“…The difference may be due to the different periods of study. A low proportion of misconceptions about transmission of HIV through sharing toilets, sharing plates, etc was observed, however, more than a half of them had misconceived that HIV is transmitted by mosquitoes (53.4%) which was similar to the findings of Prathiba Gupta et al 10 Knowledge on prevention and control of HIV revealed that less than 60% responded correctly with regard to absence of an available vaccine against HIV, alcohol and risky behaviours increases risk of HIV, presence of a cure for HIV and about implementation of laws for discrimination against people living with HIV in this study, which were similar to the findings of Pankaj Kumar et al 5 and Jaiswal et al 11 which shows that correct knowledge regarding availability of vaccine for prevention of pretest were 28 (27.45%) and 46.2% respectively. The misconceptions are caused due to a gap in knowledge.…”

Associates of Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Acceptance Attitude among Male Youth Aged 15-24: Comparison Study among Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Gabon

“…Likewise, in this study, a strong positive significant association was found between educational level and acceptance attitude towards PLHA in all the three countries. Other similar studies were reported from different regions of the world [28, 31,38,45,46].…”