HIV-related knowledge and attitudes among medical students in China

A modified version of the 'WHO/KABP Questionnaire for Students' was administered to 302 students at a medical university in China. The instrument included items to assess the students' demographic background, knowledge of AIDS/HIV, attitudes about AIDS, as well as towards people infected with HIV, those groups commonly labelled as 'high risk' and toward sources of information. The average score on the knowledge scale was 80% correct. There was a substantial disparity in knowledge between how HIV is transmitted and how HIV is not transmitted--90% of the former items were answered correctly, while only 72% of the latter were answered correctly. Over 40% of the sample blamed prostitutes for AIDS in China, whereas 22% blamed drug addicts and 6% blamed homosexuals. Two-thirds of the sample indicated that they thought people with AIDS got what they deserve. About one-third of the sample supported quarantine measures as well as keeping infected students out of classrooms. Nearly half of the sample indicated that they did not trust any of the official sources of health information we asked about and 27% said that they thought the government was concealing information about AIDS.