Knowledge and attitude of college students in Kerala towards HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and sexuality

Background. Knowledge about the spread of HIV and safe sexual practices has a critical impact on the prevention of the acquired immunodeficiency syndr ome (AIDS). We assessed the knowledge of and attitude towards AIDS, sexuall y transmitted diseases (STDs) and sexuality among college students in Thiru vananthapuram district, Kerala. Methods.We performed a community-based, cross-sectional survey of 625 rando mly selected undergraduate college students (164 boys, 461 girls, age 18-22 years). We administered a pretested, structured questionnaire to assess th e knowledge and attitude of the students towards AIDS, STDs and sexuality. We generated knowledge and attitude scores from the student responses, and used multivariable linear regression to study the association of these scor es with select predictor variables (notably gender and place of residence). Results. All the students in our sample had heard about AIDS. However, only 45% knew that AIDS is not curable at present. Only 34% were aware of the s ymptoms of STDs, and 47% knew that STDs are associated with an increased ri sk of AIDS. In multivariable analyses, male students (p < 0.001), and urban residents (p = 0.006) demonstrated a higher knowledge of AIDS and STDs. St udents from urban areas (p = 0.014) and those practising the Christian reli gion (p = 0.042) demonstrated more favourable attitudes towards AIDS. Conclusions. Our study identified substantial lacunae in the knowledge of a nd attitude towards AIDS, STDs and sexuality among college students in Kera la, The gap in knowledge between boys and girls, and between rural and urba n students suggests the need for targeting girls and rural areas in the nat ional AIDS education and awareness campaigns.