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ABSTRACT
The paper presents the findings of an investigation into adolescents' sexual behavior and action taken to avoid infection among secondary school students in Ife Central and Ife East Local Government Areas of Osun State. Provision of accurate information has and will continue to be at the forefront of efforts to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, particularly human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). It will also help in the development of positive attitudes to people living with HIV/AIDS. Thus the paper investigates the knowledge and awareness about sexually transmitted infections, the general belief and attitudes related to HIV infection and persons with AIDS among secondary school students in these two local government areas in Osun State, Nigeria. A questionnaire with questions on sexually transmitted infections, self-assessed knowledge about HIV/AIDS modes of transmission and prevention, attitudes toward people with HIV/AIDS, and sources of information on HIV/AIDS was administered. The mean age of students was 15.5 years, with ages ranging from 12 to 21 years. The respondents demonstrated good knowledge on general belief, mode of transmission, and precautionary measures against HIV. Few of them had misconceptions especially on modes of transmission. The proportion of respondents that demonstrated intolerant attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS ranged from 22.5% to 50.5% for the various questions that expressed stigmatizing attitudes. The main sources of information for HIV/AIDS awareness as reported by the respondents were the television (65.5%), the radio (75.8%), billboards/posters (72.6%), school teachers (22.5%), churches/mosques (20.5%), libraries (10.7), and the Internet (8.5%). In the light of these findings, it is suggested that more information awareness programs are needed in the secondary schools in Ife Central and Ife East Local Government Areas of Osun State, Nigeria, to correct inadequate knowledge on modes of transmission so that the students develop positive attitudes towards HIV-positives and AIDS patients. The mass media was identified as the leading information sources in the survey. Therefore it need to implement innovative strategies to improve public knowledge of HIV/AIDS. The role of teachers and librarians in information provision on HIV/AIDS and also other sexually transmitted diseases are discussed.
Notes
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