HIV/AIDS – Related Knowledge and
Sexual Behaviour among Secondary School Students in
Benin City
Winifred A Ojieabu1*,
Patrick O Erah2,
Nwamuru A Okafor2
1Department
of Clinical Pharmacy and Biopharmacy, Faculty of
Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State,
Nigeria.
E-mail:
natbelpharmacy@yahoo.com
2Pharmacotherapy
Group, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin
City, Nigeria.
E-mail:
erah@uniben.edu
Tel:
+234-802-336-0318.
.
*For correspondence
International
Journal of Health Research, March
2008; 1(1):
27-37
Received: 4-Mar-08 Revision received:
20-Mar-08 Accepted for publication: 21-Mar-08
Original Research
Article
Purpose:
The
high prevalence of HIV/AIDS amongst African youths has
been a major problem in recent times, particularly in
Nigeria where over 5% of the population is at risk of
the disease. We undertook to assess HIV/AIDS related
knowledge and sexual behaviour among secondary school
students in Benin City.
Methods:
In
a cross-sectional study using a 59-item
self-administered questionnaire, a survey was carried
out among 1917 students (48.7% male and 51.3% female;
age: 11-24 years) systematically selected from 13
secondary schools in Benin City to assess HIV/AID
related knowledge and sexual behaviour.
Results:
Awareness of HIV/AIDS was high. Misconceptions about the
cause and spread was very high (91.4% and 93.1% of
respondents, respectively). The knowledge on prevention
was poor as only 40.4% of the respondents knew how to
avoid contacting HIV/AIDS. While 9.1% of the students
indicated ever having sex (with 67.4% of them using
condom before sex), only 2.4% engaged in commercial sex.
Some of the males (4.2%) are homosexuals. As many as
5.8% of the youths (and 12.4% of those who had done HIV
test in the preceding 12 months) were HIV positive.
Conclusion:
Despite the various educational efforts to address the
problems of HIV/AIDS, the knowledge of secondary school
students in Benin City is still poor and the adolescents
still engage in risky behavours. This calls for
educational intervention that will impact in-depth
knowledge about HIV/AIDS among the youths who are at the
center of HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Keywords:
HIV/AIDS knowledge, risky sexual behaviour,
questionnaire survey, secondary schools, Benin City
