Sources of Awareness of HIV/AIDS Prevalence among Secondary School Students in Southern Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The provision of information on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria’s secondary schools is often considered inadequate to prevent or limit the scourge among teenagers. In this study, we examined the sources of information for secondary school students on prevalence of the disease in the southern senatorial district of Cross River State, Nigeria. The sources examined included parents, teachers, the social media, health care professionals and the mass media. Eight hundred students in five randomly selected secondary schools were sampled for questionnaire administration, of which 789 were retrieved for analysis.  Majority of the students had some knowledge of the causes, mode of transmission, and preventive measures of HIV/AIDS, but they lacked adequate access to the various sources of more specific information available on the subject matter. Only 187 respondents (23.7%) agreed that their parents taught them about sex education in connection with HIV/AIDS. Our data showed low parental knowledge of the spread of the disease, hence the inadequate education of their wards. About 78% of the respondents agreed that the social media provided more information on HIV/AIDS. However, nearly all the respondents (about 92%) did not use social media sites because they had no access to browsing phones or computers. Many of the respondents heard about HIV/AIDS from health counselors and community health workers in their areas of residence. The overall results indicated that prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the study area could be moderated by knowledge of the disease facilitated by adequate information and increased awareness. There is need to intensify the awareness through the mass media and other outlets considered in this study, starting from the home.

Received: 16 November 2021 / Accepted: 3 February 2022 / Published: 5 May 2022