Introduction: Attitude towards HIV and AIDS has been a concern in a number of researches undertaken in the area of HIV and AIDS. Attitude towards HIV and AIDS has two dimensions mainly positive and negative that influence stigma and discrimination towards People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA). The objective of this paper is to determine students' attitude towards HIV and AIDS when they start university life. Method:The study has employed a longitudinal study design in which data was collected in two phases. This paper presents the results of phase I with the population of the study being all 1 st year Ardhi University undergraduate students 2011/12. A sample size of 625 students was determined by using Survey System Package available free on the internet. Stratified random sampling was employed whereby students were categorized into schools and selected proportionately by sex. Data was collected through literature review and questionnaires and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software package version 20.0. Results:Results of the study reveal that a relatively high number of students exhibits negative attitude towards PLWHA and to other attitudinal indicators. Within gender, negative Attitude towards HIV and AIDS was noticeable in male compared to female though the difference was not statistically significant. Across schools, School of Architecture and Design (SADE) has a relatively high number of students with negative attitude towards HIV and AIDS of all schools and, generally, the difference in positive and negative attitudes across schools was statistically significant. Conclusions:Studies reviewed disclose negative attitude towards PLWHA in varying aspects at considerable levels. The present study also concludes that significant levels of stigma and discrimination against PLWHA still exist among students.
Introduction: The construction industry depends mainly on labour to translate other resources into a physical object (i.e. building, road, airport etc.). The industry's workforce is always mobile and its activities are characterized by difficult working conditions. The mobile workforce of industry and their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS pandemic have been fairly researched. The objective of the study is to determine construction workers' HIV/AIDS knowledge, risk sexual behaviours and their attitude towards HIV/AIDS. Method:The study adopted a cross sectional research design and purposive sampling method was used to select respondents. The researched area included sites in Dar es Salaam, Morogoro and Dodoma cities. A sample size involved 20 construction sites and 5 respondents from each site. A hundred questionnaires were distributed out of which 58 were fairly filled.The study adapted standard questionnaires developed by UNAIDS, Family Health International (FHI) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The collected data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20.0. Results:The results show that most construction workers have low HIV knowledge, low risk sexual behaviours and positive attitude towards HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, indicators of low knowledge were evident in awareness of PMTCT services, HIV can be spread through breastfeeding, HIV can be spread through sharing injection and HIV can be spread through unsafe sex. Conclusion:In conclusion risk sexual behaviours are low, attitude towards HIV/AIDS is generally positive but HIV knowledge is low. However, there are alarming concerns in some indicators of both risk sexual behaviours and attitude noted in the study.
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