ADOLESCENT KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS ABOUT AIDS/HIV AND FACTORS AFFECTING THEM IN BANGLADESH
Abstract
Background: Adolescents are more vulnerable than adults of unplanned pregnancies, sexuallytransmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. Among the adolescents, girls are more vulnerable to STDs
including HIV/AIDS. Their knowledge about different diseases is very poor. This paper investigated
adolescent's knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, its mode of
transmission and ways of its prevention. Methods: Cross sectional study design was adopted for this
study. A multistage cluster sampling technique was used to select the sample. Data on 3362 female
adolescents irrespective of their marital status was analyzed. Results: The study found that a large
proportion of adolescents were not aware about sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS. More than half
54.8 of the adolescents ever heard about AIDS respectively. On an average, about one tenth of them
had better knowledge on AIDS in terms of mode of transmission and prevention. The multivariate
logistic regression analysis revealed that adolescent age, years of schooling and knowledge on STDs
appeared to be important predictors of the awareness about AIDS p<0.05. Conclusions: Useful and
fruitful media campaigns to educate the adolescents regarding the health consequences of STDs
including HIV/AIDS and integrated approach is strongly suggested for creating knowledge and
awareness to control the spread of HIV and AIDS among young people in Bangladesh.
Keywords: Adolescent, Knowledge, Awareness, STDs, AIDS/HIV, Bangladesh
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