Knowledge of HIV by health professionals in Kampala; Uganda

ABSTRACT

Deficiencies in HIV knowledge among health care professionals is of concern because they play an instrumental role in counselling patients to reduce risk behaviours. We report here on the results of a pretest questionnaire which we administered to assess baseline levels of HIV knowledge among a group of health care providers in Kampala; Uganda; our educational intervention; and the results of the post-test questionnaire which we administered to detect changes in the level of HIV knowledge following intervention. Pre-test results indicated that the greater deficiencies in knowledge related to transmission and prevention and clinical manifestations of disease. Scores on the post-test; administered following a 15-hour course; indicated a significant improvement in knowledge of clinical manifestations and overall knowledge. Our findings underscore the need for ongoing HIV educational programs for health care workers