Submission ID 118391
| Issue/Objective | Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) being among the major three threats in the world leading to disease burden and mortality second to Malaria and Tuberculosis. WHO accounts for approximately 39.9 million living with HIV as of 2023, 65% being the African population. UNIAID highlighted Tanzanian adults aged 15 and above living with HIV/AIDS to 1.6:1.1 million among women and men with target call of 95% PLWHIV know their status, 95% on ART and 95% Viral Load suppression. Tanzania HIV Impact survey 2022-2023 reports HIV positive prevalence among adults aged 15 years and older in Kilimanjaro by 1.5:4.4 among men and women respectively, marking Kilimanjaro at 4.0% regional wise. The study aimed to evaluate Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) on HIV/AIDS among College and University students in Kilimanjaro. |
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| Methodology/Approach | A Cross-sectional study was conducted from November to December 2024 involving a structured online questionnaire with an informed consent was distributed among two Colleges and three Universities located in Moshi Municipal Council designed to evaluate KAP on HIV/AIDS involving Stratified Random Sampling approach to target the study participants aged 18 - 45 years. 320 respondents to the questionnaire were treated according to Helsinki Declaration. The data was collected converted to excel analysed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22.0. |
| Results | Study participants (18-25 years 91.3%, 26 years and above 8.8%, Female 52.5%, Male 47.5%) college (29.7%) and undergraduates (65.3%). Knowledge of HIV transmission was high, with (93.4%) identifying sexual contact and 65% recognizing mother to child transmission. Misconceptions about mosquito bites (2.2%) were minimal. Only (26.9%) were aware of PrEP, consistent condom use was low (23.8%). 98.8% supported HIV testing with (77.2%) agreeing it's a major risk. 64.1% tested for HIV but risky behaviors like multiple partners (77.2%) prevalence, hospital testing was preferred (93.8%) |
| Discussion/Conclusion | Students showed a significant level of Knowledge on HIV, leading towards positive attitudes for HIV being a serious problem among students and willing to test HIV routinely, none the less study highlighted some conceptions on areas to test, use of PrEP and PEP as best HIV prevention methods. The study reinforces health campaigns on PrEP/PEP and homebased testing kits. |
| Presenters and affiliations | Simon Ernest KCMC University Majidah Mustafa Muro KCMC University Grace Aggrey Akaro KCMC University Erick Mahatara KCMC University Ikupilika Mwanja KCMC University |
