Impact of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Regarding Awareness of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/ Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Secondary School Students of Ahmedabad City, Gujarat

ABSTRACT

Introduction:There is no cure for HIV/AIDS and no effective vaccine available till date. So, only prevention of transmission of HIV would be effective in significantly slowing the spread of AIDS. With this view the following study was undertaken to assess the level of awareness regarding HIV/AIDS among secondary school students and to evaluate impact of IEC among them Method:An interventional study was conducted in randomly selected 3 schools with all the class 9 and 10 students. First, students were pretested for their awareness by semi-structured questionnaire then IEC was given which include poster and intra group open discussion. Post test evaluation was conducted after 24 hours to evaluate impact of IEC. Analysis was done in Ms Excel 2007 Results:Out of 298 students, 87.58% had heard about HIV/AIDS. Only 34% knew about full form of HIV/AIDS which increased to 71% after IEC intervention. There were many myths for HIV/AIDS transmission i.e. it is transmitted by Mosquito bite 58%, Sneezing and coughing of HIV positive person 58.72% which decreased to 13%, 15% respectively. Only 34% were aware HIV/AIDS is not curable which increased to 74.83 %. These all differences were found statistically significant. (Z test of proportion was applied) Conclusion:Educational programmes are recommended to facilitate students with correct scientific knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS.