Knowledge, Attitude and Behaviour of Lower Secondary and Secondary School Adolescents to STDs, HIV/AIDS and Sexuality (A Case Study in Taplejung District)
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Department of Rural Development
Abstract
This Study entitled "Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior of Lower and SecondarySchool Adolescents to STDs, HIV/AIDS and Sexuality," is based on the field surveyconduct in thesecondary schools of Taplejung district. This study has tried to figure outthe general knowledge attitude and behavior of School Adolescents on sexuality, STDsand HIV/AIDS. It becomes helpful to understand the knowledge,attitudeandbehaviormainly by gender wise on STDs, HIV/AIDS and sexuality.
Out of the total sample population of 294, the percentages of Adolescents (77.9%)who have heard of HIV/AIDS is higher than the percentages (63.3%) who have heard ofSTDs. Only, 62.2 percent have heard of puberty. It shows that majority of adolescentspercentage of the studyarea are lower. It is due to the inclusion of more numbers ofadolescents (144) in the sample population from class 8. Adolescents of class 8 had poorknowledge about these disease and sexuality. For example, more than 80% of the class 10adolescents have heard of STDs and HIV/AIDS but less than 58 percent of class 8adolescents have heard of these diseases.
The knowledge of sexuality STDs and HIV/AIDS is poor among femaleadolescents in comparison to the male adolescents due to the lesser number of sources ofknowledge. Due to the lack of sufficient knowledge, some of them had misconceptionabout ways of transmission, symptom and preventive measure of STDs and HIV/AIDS.The total percentages of adolescents (7.5%) who had experience of sexual intercoursebefore marriage is low but the percentages of male (18.4%) is more than three timeshigher than that of female (5.6%). Because of lack of sufficient knowledge of STDs andHIV/AIDS, some of them have negative attitude and bad behavior on these diseases.Therefore, for the development of significant knowledge, we should informand educatethem about STDs, HIV/AIDS and Sexuality.