Exploration of HIV/AIDS Related Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of University Community: The Case of Ethiopian Civil Service College

Background: Even though HIV/AIDS is the worst health crisis in recorded history in the world, it has clearly moved beyond being primarily a health issue, to developmental crisis. More than 83% of all new infections in many African countries are among young and productive people in which females are outnumbering males. Higher learning institutions such as the Ethiopian Civil Service College (ECSC), as knowledge generation sources, and with perceived skills contributing to the generation of business leaders, need to seriously address HIV/AIDS as a cross-cutting issue in their mandate. There is lack of adequate documentation on HIV/AIDS related knowledge and behaviors among the university community. The study sought to assess HIV/AIDS related knowledge, attitude and behaviors of ECSC community, and contribute to the literature in the field. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between January-June 2011 by using mixed methods where structured questionnaire was administered for 250 systematically selected respondents while purposively selected key informants were interviewed. Results: Out of 250 respondents, 238( with 95% response rate ) returned the questionnaire. Eight key informants and observations were used for triangulating data. The study found that the majority of (students and staff) respondents know about HIV&AIDS. The study found no correlation between being postgraduate and undergraduate student; being married or no. It was found that all respondents (married or unmarried, those who use or not use condoms) never perceive they are at risk for HIV. Unsafe sex, multiple concurrent sexual partnerships were found among all religious groups, married staff and students. However, compared to female respondents, males were found more exposed to unsafe sex. Qualitative data supports this finding. Significant number of respondents was willing to take and few actually took HIV counseling and testing to know their status. Conclusions: There were positive changes on awareness and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, yet comprehensive knowledge is lacking, even those who have knowledge did not practically apply it in using HIV prevention services like consistent condom use. There is a need for improved strategies of promoting comprehensive knowledge and behavioral change interventions of the college, which could also be scaled up to other institutions.