Community Medicine Abstracts - College of Medicine and Health ...

Project No. 84 (1996)Knowledge and Attitude of HIV Infection Among Young Emirati Males Aged20-40 YearsStudent Authors: Khalid Salem Al-SaaediFaculty Supervisors: Dr. P. Badrinath, Dr. M. HossainAbstract:Objectives Obtain knowledge and attitude information related to HIV infection amongyoung Emarati males aged 20-40 years.Methods Descriptive cross-sectional study in which a confidential self-administeredquestionnaire was distributed to the study population. Setting was UAE University,medical school and public sectors where nationals are employed like police,municipality and ministry of health. 264 Emarati men aged 20-40 were included in thestudy including medical students and doctors in the library, cafeteria, hostel restaurantand people representing the UAE working population from the Police Department,Municipality and Ministry of Health. The general knowledge and attitude of thepopulation toward HIV infections analyzed in terms of three categories; no knowledge,some knowledge and good knowledge.Results 264 out of 320 subjects answered the questionnaire (82.5% response rate),64% of them were not married and 33% married and the rest divorced (3%). 66.7%of the subjects were students and the rest are employees of public sectors.Participants were aware of the associations between traveling abroad, prostitution andsexual activity with HIV infections but were less aware of the signs and symptoms ofthe disease. Medical students and doctors considered themselves at a higher risk ofHIV infection (X2=14.5, p