HIV/AIDS awareness among first year pharmacy students and the role of the university
Abstract
As HIV/AIDS continues to spread and affect the lives of millions of people, a sense of
urgency has developed about the imperative need to stop the epidemic. Education is the
key to change knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. There is currently a gap in education
programmes targeting youths of ages 18-24 years, for example, those enrolled in tertiary
institutions. The aim of the study was therefore to establish the level of HIV/AIDS
awareness among undergraduate pharmacy students at the University of Limpopo
(Medunsa Campus)/Tshwane University of Technology Schools of Pharmacy. A structured
questionnaire was administered to pharmacy students on entry to the programme. Although
the students of 2003, 2004 and 2005 obtained mean percentage HIV/AIDS awareness
scores in the range of 70%-80%, they had inadequate knowledge of some transmission
routes, events that occur when HIV invades the body, the “window period” and some
symptoms. These knowledge gaps should be addressed by universities by integrating
HIV/AIDS policies and education fully into all aspects of their planning, operations and teaching.