| dc.description.abstract | The study was about Adolescents’ Knowledge of HIV and AIDS. It was carried out in Kawempe
Urban Council Secondary Schools, Kampala – Uganda. The objectives of the study were to
establish adolescents’ knowledge of: i) concepts of HIV and AIDS, ii) transmission and iii)
prevention/treatment in Kawempe Urban Council in Kampala, Capital City Authority. An
exploratory research design was used. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires
and interview guides. Respondents were 10 head teachers, 20 teachers and 240 senior II students
from ten secondary schools in Kawempe Urban Council. The findings show that knowledge on
concept of HIV and AIDS of the adolescent’s was high (92.1%) on definition of AIDS. However,
knowledge on major types of HIV and symptoms of HIV was low 24.6% and (42.1%) respectively.
Although most adolescents (73.8%) said that HIV is transmitted through blood transfusion and
kissing (45.4%), over 83.4% of adolescents thought mosquitoes, shaking hands (87.9%) and
witchcraft (84.6%) can spread HIV. About eight percent of adolescents knew that abstinence is the
best way of preventing the HIV, 85.5% knew that condoms could prevent the spread of HIV and
AIDS if correctly used. Sixty-eight percent thought that HIV and AIDS can be cured by
antiretroviral drugs. About 67.5% thought that HIV and AIDS can be cured through prayers. It is
concluded that although adolescents from Kawempe Urban Council are knowledgeable in some
concepts, transmission and prevention/treatment of HIV and AIDS, there still exist gaps in their
knowledge of HIV/AIDS. It is recommended that teachers, school administrators and Ministry of
Education and Sports (MoES) officials should: give more information about HIV and AIDS to the
adolescents, conduct more sensitization on modes of transmission and continue to educate the
adolescents on methods of prevention of HIV/AIDS | en_US |
