Abstract:

Objective  To investigate the HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, risk behavior and infective status of HIV, hepatitis C virus(HCV)and syphilis among adolescents in Hefei, Anhui Province, China, for effective policies for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. Methods  By using multi-stage cluster sampling method, we conducted a survey on a total of 3244 adolescents living in Hefei area from 2010 to 2013 by self-response to anonymous questionnaire after obtaining the informed consent. Additional serological tests for HIV, HCV and syphilis were performed. Results  The correct response to HIV/AIDS-related knowledge was 81.8%, 86.1%, 82.6% and 85.7% in different age group. Awareness on "Whether mosquito bite will transmit HIV or not" ranked lowest in the 8 related questions. Of the total responders, 7.84% had sexual behavior in the past year. No more than 40% had ever used condom in their first sexual intercourse in our surveillance in four years, and lower than 50% insisted on using condoms in the last year in each sexual intercourse with either regular sexual partner, temporary sex partner or commercial sex partner. Only 2.7% had received HIV test in the past year, and generally, much fewer of the adolescents had ever received education on HIV/AIDS-related knowledge or voluntarily participated in spreading of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge. The serological finding revealed one case was positive to syphilis(0.03%) and 7, positive to HCV(0.2%) in the past years. Conclusion   Overall, the adolescents in Hefei area have a better knowledge on HIV/AIDS, yet they are poor in some individual awareness, and some of them have risk sexual behaviors and poor awareness on self-protection on HIV infection. More strength shall be laid on education, training and propaganda of this knowledge in this population group besides intervention with the high-risk behavior and wider coverage on HIV tests.

Key words: HIV, Sentinel surveillance, Adolescents