Research Article Medical and Nursing Students Perceived Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices concerning Human Immunodeficiency Virus Paraniala S. C. Lui, 1,2 Jeganathan Sarangapany, 3 Kim Begley, 3 Katherine Coote, 3 and Kamal Kishore 2 1 School of Public Health and Social Work, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4059, Australia 2 School of Medicine, CMNHS, Fiji National University, Suva, Fiji 3 he Albion Centre, Directorate of Planning and Population Health SESLHD/WHO Collaborating Centre for Capacity Building and Health Care Worker Training in HIV/AIDS Care, Treatment and Support, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia Correspondence should be addressed to Paraniala S. C. Lui; paranialasilascelebi.lui@student.qut.edu.au Received 2 February 2014; Accepted 16 March 2014; Published 31 March 2014 Academic Editors: C. M. Buchalla, E. Kahan, J. Klewer, and J. Konde-Lule Copyright © 2014 Paraniala S. C Lui et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. To assess medical and nursing students’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding human immunodeiciency virus (HIV) in Fiji. Methods. A cross-sectional study of 275 medical and 252 nursing students that participated in a questionnaire survey on HIV KAP. Data was analysed according to their gender, program of study, and academic year. Results. he mean HIV knowledge (HK) and attitude scores were 16.0 and 41.3, respectively. Mean HK score was signiicantly higher in males compared to females. Signiicant positive correlations were found between HK and academic year for medical ( = 0.459) and nursing ( = 0.342) students and between HK and attitude scores ( = 0.196). he majority of students indicated fear in contracting HIV through clinical practice and felt that health care workers have the right to know a patients HIV status for their own safety. he majority would wear gloves to touch a patient if suspected of HIV. Conclusions. he study found a high level of HIV knowledge and positive attitude towards HIV patients. However, respondents also displayed negative attitudes and unacceptable practices probably due to fear. Training institutions need to ensure that students gain accurate knowledge on HIV especially on transmission routes to allay the fear of caring for HIV-infected patients. 1. Introduction Human immunodeiciency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeiciency syndrome (AIDS) are global public health problems and are becoming a threat to the South Paciic region because more than 97.0% of all infections are occurring in the developing countries and increasing every year [1]. Although the prevalence of HIV in most Paciic islands was low, the incidence of HIV in most Paciic islands continued to increase [2]. In Fiji, by the end of 2012, 482 conirmed HIV cases had been reported since the irst case was diagnosed in January 1989. Adults aged 20–39 years accounted for almost 77.0% of HIV cases and heterosexual transmission reported for 91.0% of all cases [3]. he main goal of HIV and AIDS education in medical and nursing training is to equip them with the right information needed to provide efective and culturally appropriate care to their patients and at the same protect themselves against infection [4]. A number of studies have highlighted the need to enhance and integrate HIV education into the core curriculum in medical and nursing schools [4–12]. A study among Turkish nursing students found high levels of negative attitude and fear of contagion of HIV as a reason for being unwilling to care for HIV-infected patients [5]. A study among nursing students in Macedonia found that although most students had high level of HIV knowledge, a majority avoided people living with HIV (PLHIV) [6]. Another study among nursing students in Greece found that more than a third of the nursing students believe that mosquitoes can transmit HIV virus [7]. In Turkey, a study among nursing stu- dents revealed that most students still have misconceptions about HIV and that their attitudes need improvement [8]. Hindawi Publishing Corporation ISRN Public Health Volume 2014, Article ID 975875, 9 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/975875