Survey of HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Behavior-Risk among in-School Adolescents and Youths in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Adolescents and youths are at high risk due to knowledge gap and behavior risks related to HIV.

Despite the well-known need for protection from HIV infections and other reproductive health risks, being an adolescent coupled with social and economic status could limit access to information and services. This is a study to ascertain the HIV/AIDS Knowledge and behaviour-risk among in-school adolescents and youths in Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

It is a descriptive cross-sectional study involving1831 in-school adolescents selected by multi-stage sampling technique.

Females showed higher knowledge at 52.2±20.1 than males at 47.5±20.3 (p<0.001). Also the urban youths had higher knowledge (47.1±20.8) than rural schools (41.3±20.3). Conversely, males displayed higher behaviour risk at 44.8±24.5 than the female at 39.9±24.6 (p<0.001). Highest behaviour risk was observed in age group 16-20 years (51.2±25.8). Schools in urban setting had higher behaviour risk (56.1±25.5) than rural schools (41.3±23.7), while knowledge of HIV transmission was highest as 63.8% of the respondent scored ≥50 in 5 HIV questions on knowledge of transmission. Also 48% (370) of the 778 participants who ever had sex had used condom while 50% (915/1831) of the study population were willing to abstain from sex till marriage.

There is a strong need for appropriate regular and intensified HIV/AIDS risk reduction interventions to capture the attention of youths especially males, and to ensure sustainable and effective outcomes in secondary schools of Ebonyi state Nigeria.