KNOWLEDGE OF AWARENESS ABOUT HIV/AIDS AMONG STUDENTS COMING FOR INDUSTRIAL TRAINING IN NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (NIPRD), ABUJA, NIGERIA

^1,2*Ya’aba Y., ¹Mohammed S. B.,²Nfongeh J. F., ¹Olatunji K. T., ³Abdulmumin A. R., ¹Abubakar A., ¹Usoroh M., and ¹Daniel O. C.

¹Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) Abuja, Nigeria.

²Department of Microbiology, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State, Nigeria.

³Department of Microbiology, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State, Nigeria.

^*Corresponding Author’s: E-mail Addresses ✉: yakyabnig@yahoo.com;
Phone no ☎: +2348033326544

Accepted September 10,2019

Knowledge of awareness about HIV/AIDS is one of the major cornerstones in the fight against the dreaded disease. Mostly youths are at risk to infection because of their involvement in risky practices due to a lack of vital information. Therefore, to determine their Knowledge of awareness will help in developing acceptable prevention and control strategies. This study was aimed at assessing Knowledge of awareness about HIV/AIDS among students coming for industrial training in National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Abuja. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 360 students aged 17– 36 years. Pre-tested and modified questionnaires were administered to the students to obtain information about their knowledge of awareness on HIV/AIDS. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Virtually all of the students (99.4%) had heard of HIV but only 1.4% was able to know HIV- infected person from their appearances. Sources of information differed, the most familiar being sex education in school. The majority of students demonstrated an adequate understanding of HIV transmission and prevention. However, misconceptions about modes of transmission were observed in 1.7 to 79.2 % of students. The main finding of the study revealed that students had a satisfactory level of awareness on HIV/AIDS prevention and highlighted some misconceptions about HIV transmission.

Key words: Knowledge, Awareness, HIV/AIDS, Abuja, Prevention, Control, Misconceptions.

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