HIV/AIDS Education and Attitudinal Change among the Youth in Mamobi, New Town and James Town

Abstract

The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to spread all over the world and Ghana is no exception. The prevalence rate from sentinel centres across the country in 2001 suggests between 3 to 4 percent of the spread. The study was conducted in Mamobi, New Town and James Town, all suburbs of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. It is both a qualitative and quantitative study that sets out to describe the youth’s perceptions of what constitutes risk behaviours in relation to HIV/AIDS, examine the knowledge level of HIV/AIDS among the youth, examine the attitude of the youth towards HIV/AIDS, enquire about the importance the youth attach to the HIV /AIDS education, find out whether they understand the processes of controlling the spread of the disease. The youth in the study are defined as those aged between 15 and 35. These were grouped into two, those in formal training as apprentices in various forms of trade such as dressmaking, auto-mechanics and the like are termed the ‘regular youth’ and those who are not in any formal training, such hawkers, are termed as ‘irregular youth’. The researcher collected data using the questionnaires, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. There were 240 respondents for the survey. Four (4) focus group discussions and eight (8) in-depth interviews were held. Respondents included youth both regular and irregular, some NGO’s and health professional The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to spread all over the world and Ghana is no exception. The prevalence rate from sentinel centres across the country in 2001 suggests between 3 to 4 percent of the spread. The study was conducted in Mamobi, New Town and James Town, all suburbs of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. It is both a qualitative and quantitative study that sets out to describe the youth’s perceptions of what constitutes risk behaviours in relation to HIV/AIDS, examine the knowledge level of HIV/AIDS among the youth, examine the attitude of the youth towards HIV/AIDS, enquire about the importance the youth attach to the HIV /AIDS education, find out whether they understand the processes of controlling the spread of the disease. The youth in the study are defined as those aged between 15 and 35. These were grouped into two, those in formal training as apprentices in various forms of trade such as dressmaking, auto-mechanics and the like are termed the ‘regular youth’ and those who are not in any formal training, such hawkers, are termed as ‘irregular youth’. The researcher collected data using the questionnaires, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. There were 240 respondents for the survey. Four (4) focus group discussions and eight (8) in-depth interviews were held. Respondents included youth both regular and irregular, some NGO’s and health professional.