DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2019.v07i11.003

Pages: 400-406

Negative attitude and risky practice are major obstacles to prevention and control to the spread of HIV. This study aimed to assessing HIV-related attitude and practice of tertiary institutions students coming for industrial work experience scheme (SIWES) at National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study of students aged between 15 and 39 years old was undertaken from August to October, 2019 to evaluate their attitudes and risk practices using a well-structured self-administered questionnaire. Two hundred and seventy (270) students were recruited for the study using the minimum sample size calculation. Virtually, all of the respondents completed the questionnaire correctly giving a response rate of 100%. Positive attitude towards persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) were observed among 58.1% of students. Nearly half of the respondents (47.0%) said that they would be willing to continue studying in a school with HIV-positive friends, and 140 (51.9%) said they would continue attending a school with HIV-positive teachers. One hundred and twenty-one (44.8%) students had a history of sexual intercourse, 199 (73.7%) had done an HIV test and 187 (69.3%) are willing to encourage other students for the same services. However, the use of injectable drugs was not seen and hence, the consequent risky practice of sharing and exchanging syringes/needles was absent. The risky behaviors and discriminatory attitude provide strong evidence that there is a need to advocate for prompt and appropriate National HIV/AIDS awareness raising campaigns in tertiary institutions in Nigeria to reduce the gaps in knowledge and decrease stigmatizing attitude towards PLWHA. Therefore, sexual education in schools and health education in religious sermons should be reinforced to correct the misconceptions, encourage safe practice and positive attitude towards PLWHA.