HIV/AIDS awareness among hospital employees

The present cross sectional study was carried out to assess the basic knowledge and attitude of class III and Class IV hospital employees (n = 250) regarding HIV/AIDS. Of the 250 study subjects 232(92.8) had heard or read about AIDS. Chief sources of information were television, newspapers and doctors. Though the study subjects had some factual knowledge about HIV/AIDS, certain misconceptions and myths persisted. They were also found to have a biased and negative attitude towards people with AIDS. 223(96.1%) study subjects said that they would like to learn more about HIV/AIDS. The results of this study indicate that action is needed to increase the level of knowledge of this group so that they reject biased information and myths relating to AIDS and thus carry out their duties effectively and help in forming an enlightened opinion against AIDS.