Page 144 - HIVMED_v21_i1.indb

Page 6 of 7 Original Research

affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic, with the youth be included in the study to get a better picture of the knowledge
between the ages of 15 and 24 years being the hardest hit. 5 levels, attitudes and behaviours towards HIV and AIDS at
Young female students are reported to have higher infection private higher education institutions in the Johannesburg
rates owing to a lack of knowledge and poor attitudes towards metropolitan area. Notwithstanding these limitations, these
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condom use and risky sexual behaviours, making them twice findings could serve as a springboard for national research
as likely as male students to be infected with HIV. 3,6,8 This study that would be more representative of the wider student
was aimed at determining gender differences in knowledge, population in both private and public higher education
attitudes and behaviour in relation to HIV and AIDS among institutions.
students at a private higher education institution in
Johannesburg, South Africa.
Recommendations
Findings in this study indicate that there is no significant It is recommended that future research should sample
difference between male and female students in terms of their students from several private and public higher education
general knowledge of HIV and AIDS. However, it is institutions with a representative number of both male and
noteworthy that female students had significantly less female students. This could then inform interventions that
knowledge of unprotected anal sex as a risk factor for HIV and reduce HIV infection among the youth in South Africa
AIDS. In addition, a smaller proportion of female students through improved attitudes facilitated by communication at
reported condom use at last sex, compared to their male both social and parental levels. It is further recommended
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counterparts. This could be attributed to the female population that sex education in secondary schools should be introduced
19
having limited control over male condom usage. The complex to close the gender gap in knowledge and prevent risky
power imbalance in this scenario, with most females not sexual behaviours.
having the power to negotiate condom use with their partners,
is the likely underlying cause. 20,21 Conclusion

Moreover, 8.3% of male students and 3.8% of female students This study found that the level of HIV and AIDS knowledge
believed that AIDS can be cured. Although these percentages in female students was not significantly different than in
are comparatively low, they are equally as disconcerting as male students although risky sexual behaviour in female
the results in Haroun et al., who found that just over 20% of students was more frequent. In addition to the existing
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a sample of university students in the United Arab Emirates interventions aimed at reducing the prevalence of HIV and
did not know whether HIV and AIDS could be cured or not. AIDS among the youth in South Africa, efforts towards
This poor knowledge of basic messages relating to HIV and implementing interventions at educational as well as social
AIDS is a likely reason as to why the youth engage in risky and family-based levels are imperative.
sexual behaviour and why the prevalence of HIV infection
among them is high. 23 Acknowledgements

Regarding risky sexual behaviour, this study revealed notable We would like to acknowledge the participants for their
differences between male and female students, with the latter participation in this study.
(57.3%) and the former (37.2%) reporting not having used a
condom at last sex with a non-regular partner. As the chi- Competing interests
square test revealed no significant variation in attitudes The authors declare that they have no financial or personal
between male and female students, we opted to investigate relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them
the entire sample’s attitudes rather than to compare male and in writing this article.
female students. Results revealed that the majority of
participants (83.4%) had a positive attitude towards people
living with HIV and AIDS. This differs from previous findings Authors’ contributions
where the majority indicated negative attitudes towards N.K. and M.M. conceptualised the study, collected data and
people living with HIV and AIDS. Positive attitudes such did the write-up of the introduction, method and discussion
22
as these have been attributed to parental and social sections. T.B. did data analysis and the write-up of the results
communication aimed at promoting HIV and AIDS awareness section.
among the youth. 24
Funding Information
Limitations
This study was funded by Monash South Africa research
There were a disproportionate number of female students, office.
compared to male students in this study. It is possible that this
might have affected the robustness of the chi-square test and Data availability statement
therefore skewed the findings. In addition, the sample came
from one private higher education institution in Johannesburg, Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data
South Africa. It would have been ideal for more institutions to were created or analysed in this study.

http://www.sajhivmed.org.za 136 Open Access