Knowledge, attitude and practices on HIV/AIDS among students of Bahir Dar University

Background: Students of higher education are more likely to be at risk of HIV/AIDS. Insufficient knowledge, less favorable attitudes and risky sexual practices are the major hindrances to prevent the spread of HIV. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess HIV related knowledge, attitude and practices (KAPs) of University students in Bahir Dar. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from January to March/ 2013. A structured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic variables and KAPs of students. Mean score and percentage were used to determine the level of KAP. Bivariate analysis was used to compute Pvalue, odds ratio and Confidence interval. Multivariate analysis was done to correlate KAPs with sociodemographic variables. Authors guided self-administered data collection technique was used. Results: From 817 participants, 45.7% were knowledgeable towards HIV/AIDS. The majority (82.8%) had favorable attitude. Knowledgeable students had more favorable attitudes compared to not-knowledgeable students (87.6% vs 78.6%). Good practices towards HIV/AIDS were observed among 41.7% of respondents. The majority (80.5%) of participants were not confident to discuss about condom use by demonstration. Students who were Knowledgeable and had favorable attitude had a better preventive practices towards HIV/AIDS compared to students who are not-knowledgeable and those who had unfavorable attitudes respectively. Differences in level of education, sex and religion were among the sociodemographic variables that showed statistically significant association with the one or more of the outcome variables. Conclusion: The majority of participating University students were not knowledgeable, had favorable attitude and poor practices towards HIV/AIDS. The study highlighted misconceptions about preventive methods of HIV transmission and risky sexual practices which need to be addressed. Therefore, specified, focused, continued and strengthened education on HIV/AIDS-related issues to bring change in practices, along with knowledge and attitudes has to be given.