| dc.description.abstract | Background: Homa Bay County HIV prevalence is the highest and 4.5 times the national
prevalence. Young people aged 15-24 years account for 22% of this prevalence in the County.
Majority of these young people are high school students, yet their knowledge, attitudes, practices
and risk perception towards HIV prevention have not been unascertained. This could be one of
the obstacles to HIV prevention in the county.
Objective: The study aimed at assessing HIV-related Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices
(KAPs) of high school students in Homa Bay County.
Methodology: Survey was conducted among 260 systematically sampled students from 11
randomly selected schools in Gwassi South ward, Suba South sub-County, Homa Bay County. A
head teacher or health master from each of the 11 schools was purposively sampled and took part
in key informants’ interview about available strategies for HIV prevention. Data was analyzed
using SPSS version 18.0. Proportion was used to determine knowledge, attitude, and risk
perception among the students. Logistic regression was used determine association between
knowledge, attitude towards HIV & AIDS and sexual practices.
Results: Majority (64%) of students had moderate to high knowledge on HIV & AIDS and
exhibited positive attitude towards HIV & AIDS (61.1%). However, 15% to 25% of students
reported to have engaged in a risky sexual practice. Higher to moderate knowledge had increased
likelihood of positive attitude towards HIV and AIDS. Similarly, those with higher to moderate
knowledge demonstrated lower risk sex practices. Moreover, students with negative attitude
towards HIV & AIDS were 4 times more likely to have high risk sex practices. There were HIV
& AIDS intervention strategies in secondary schools within Gwassi South Ward.
Conclusion: Knowledge and attitude of the students play a big role in their HIV risk perception
as well as sex practices. Understanding knowledge, attitude, practice and intervention strategies
of HIV and AIDS is significant in policy formulation by Ministries of Education, and leads to
improved health-related practice by the Ministry of Health and researchers focusing on HIV and
AIDS in high burden area | en_US |
