Research Article
Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Sexual
Behavior among University Students in Ambo, Central
Ethiopia: Implication to Improve Intervention
Zekariyas Sahile,
1
Mulugeta Mekuria,
1
and Abenezer Yared
2
1
Department of Public Health Oicer, Ambo University, P.O. Box 19, Ambo, Ethiopia
2
Department of Sociology and Social Work, Ambo University, P.O. Box 19, Ambo, Ethiopia
Correspondence should be addressed to Zekariyas Sahile; zsahile@yahoo.com
Received 18 April 2015; Accepted 1 June 2015
Academic Editor: Norbert Hermann Brockmeyer
Copyright © 2015 Zekariyas Sahile 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.
Background. Ethiopia has one of the lowest HIV prevalence rates in East Africa, but there are still more than one million people
estimated to be living with HIV in Ethiopia. his study was aimed at assessing the comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge and sexual
behavior among university students. Methodology. A cross-sectional comparative study was done with quantitative and qualitative
data collection with a stratiied sampling technique. he quantitative data were edited, coded, entered, and analyzed using SPSS
sotware version 20. Result. Both comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention method were higher in the
intervention group (75.8% and 48.5%) than comparative group (68.6% and 42.5%) which had a signiicant diference ( < 0.05).
Life time sexual intercourse was higher in the intervention group (40.8%) as compared to the comparative group (34.6%). But
sexual condom utilization in the past 12 months was higher in the intervention group (73.2%) as compared to the comparative
group (56.9%) which had a signiicant diference ( < 0.05). Similarly, history of sexual transmitted disease report was higher in
the comparative group (6.3%) as compared to the intervention (4.6%). Among sexual experience respondents in the last 12 months,
32% of them in the intervention and 35.5% of them in the comparative group have had multiple sexual partners. Conclusion. he
intervention group had higher comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS and condom utilization. But a higher percentage of students
were engaged in risky sexual behavior. herefore, emphasis should be given on designing diferent strategy to reduce risky sexual
behavior and increase comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge.
1. Introduction
HIV/AIDS is recognized as one of the major public health
issues as well as the development problem in Ethiopia since
the mid-1980 [1]. he impact of HIV/AIDS goes beyond
public health concerns because it primarily afects adult
population in the productive and reproductive age groups
as such in its endemic stage, it undermines the social and
economic structure of developing countries [2].
he national HIV prevalence data in the general popu-
lation results from the 2005 Ethiopia Demography Health
Survey (EDHS) indicates that 1.4% of Ethiopian adults aged
15–49 were infected with HIV and data from 2011 EDHS
shows a prevalence of 1.5% ranging from 4.2% in urban
population to 0.6% in rural population. Only one-quarter of
young women and one-third of young men have a compre-
hensive knowledge of AIDS, meaning that they know the two
major methods for preventing HIV transmission, know that
a healthy-looking person can be HIV-positive, and reject the
two most common misconceptions about HIV/AIDS [3, 4].
Higher education institutions (HEI) in Ethiopia host
young people aged between 19 and 24 years. his age group
is oten sexually active and among the most vulnerable and at
risk of HIV infection. Millions of young people in Ethiopia
in general and adolescents and youth in Higher Education
Institutions in particular are at high risk of infection from
HIV and other sexual and reproductive (SRH) problems.
hus, HIV/AIDS and SRH intervention in HEI are addressed
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Volume 2015, Article ID 890202, 6 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/890202