Level of knowledge about HIV/ AIDS in students of Communitary Integral Medicine

Abstract

The HIV/ AIDS pandemia became the most fearful transmitted disease of the last century and even in this century it has no suitable scientific answers for the effective treatment. It is necessary then to make a study of this social phenomenon because the ignorance of the population in regards to the prevention and treatment and the insufficient risk perception are the main causes of its growing dissemination and difficult control. The objective of this research is to determine the level of knowledge about HIV/ AIDS in students of Communitary Integral Medicine, belonging to the Communitary Integral Health Area ¨La Chamarreta¨, Maracaibo, in Zulia State, Venezuela. The universe was about 47 students and 43 were the sample. They studied in the afore mentioned health area and it was applied a survey to them, which allowed to fulfilled the stated objectives. There were used the theoretical, empirical and statistical methods. The 67.4% belonged to females and the 39.5 % belonged to the age group of 18 to 23 years old. The HIV – AIDS concepts were not clearly identified (65.1%). The only means of protection that they identified was the preservative (60.5%). The 51.2% was evaluated as wrong and 37.2 % was regular, the female sex and the age group of 18 to 23 years old prevailed. Most of the students were generally evaluated as wrong and regular and the feminine sex had less knowledge about the topic.