Knowledge Attitude and Awareness toward People Living with HIV/AIDS among Engineering College Students of Pondicherry, India

Abstract

Introduction: The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a great global public health problem caused by a retrovirus that infects cells of the human immune system, destroying or impairing their function. In the early stages of infection, the person has no symptoms. HIV can be transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse, transfusion of contaminated blood, through contaminated needles and between a mother and her infant. In 2017, globally, 36.9 million people are living with HIV and 940000 people died from HIV related causes. The total number of people living with HIV in India is estimated at 21.40 lakhs people in 2017. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among college students from engineering colleges in Pondicherry from April 2018 to September 2018. The selection of study subjects was done using simple random sampling. After getting informed consent from the individuals a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire was administered. Data were entered on and analysed using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Descriptive statistics were used and results were expressed as proportions.  Results: The majority of the students, about 92.4% had heard about HIV/AIDS, about 92.4% of the participants were aware that HIV can spread through body fluids such as blood, sexual contact, urine. More than half 52.7% of students are aware that migrant workers, lorry drivers, commercial sex workers are high-risk groups for HIV/AIDS. 68.8% of students don’t know their HIV status. 65.2% were not willing to isolate HIV infected people from society. Conclusion: There is an immediate need for more health education and awareness campaign among students about HIV/AIDS. The Ministry of Education found better methods  to deliver the necessary information about HIV/AIDS through the Internet, social media and mobile applications, information hotlines, pamphlets and printed educational  materials.