Kenyan university students' views on AIDS

In view of the rapidly increasing number of AIDS cases reported in Kenya since 1984, a survey was conducted among Kenyatta University undergraduate students during October and November 1988 to gauge their knowledge, attitudes and practices with regard to the disease. A random sample of 344 individuals both men and women was interviewed. The results showed that almost everyone had heard about AIDS and the knowledge was spread evenly across gender. Although the students were able to identify the symptoms of a full blown AIDS victim, their knowledge on HIV was vague. Other findings were: that condoms were lowly rated as a strategy for minimizing the risk of contracting AIDS and the majority of the students attempted to reduce the chance of contracting the disease by having one sex partner. However, the students were apathetic about contracting the disease. In the event of becoming victims of AIDS, most of them indicated that they would not merely wait to die; instead they would commit suicide. In view of these findings, there is a case for educating this group on how to respond to the AIDS infection.