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2014 Month : December Volume : 3 Issue : 72 Page : 15275-15282

AWARENESS OF HIV/AIDS AMONG ADOLESCENTS OF A - RURAL AREA OF HARYANA

Neelu Saluja1, Ajay Kumar2, Seema Choudhary3, Seema Sharma4, Salil Dube5, S. M. Pandey6

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Dr. Neelu Saluja,
Associate Professor,
Department of Community Medicine,
MAMC, Agroha, Hisar-125047,
Haryana.
Email: neelumd_12@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) caused by Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) remains the most serious of infectious disease challenges to public health. Adolescents are exposed to the risk of being victims of HIV/AIDS, mostly because of a low level of awareness of HIV/AIDS and inadequate access to HIV prevention and treatment services. School education has been described as a ‘social vaccine’, and it can serve as a powerful preventive tool. Objective: To assess awareness of HIV/AIDS amongst adolescents of a rural area of Haryana. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional. Setting: Senior Secondary Schools of a rural area of district Hisar, Haryana. Participants: 340 secondary school students. METHODOLOGY: A total of 340 students aged 11-19 years of 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th standard participated in the study. A structured pretested and predesigned questionnaire consisting of close ended questions was used to assess study subjects’ level of awareness regarding modes of transmission, preventive and curative measures of HIV/AIDS and the attitude towards People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Statistical Analysis: Percentages and Chi-square test. Results: In this study, for majority of the students (91.2%), the source of information about HIV/AIDS was the television. Regarding awareness about the modes of transmission of HIV/AIDS 82.4% students (58.2% boys and 24.1% girls) said that it was through unprotected sex followed by sharing injections (78.5%), blood transfusion (67.6%), and from infected mother to baby (62.4%). Two hundred and eighty five (83.8%) students (22.1% girls and 61.8% boys) had knowledge about condoms as means of protection. The awareness regarding modes of transmission, methods of prevention and treatment was found to be significantly higher among boys as compared to girls (P <.001). CONCLUSION: There is need for developing programmes to spread awareness and to induce behavioral changes among the adolescents especially among girls in rural areas.
KEYWORDS: Awareness, HIV/AIDS, adolescents.

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