A STUDY ON AWARENESS ABOUT HIV/AIDS AMONG FIRST YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS OF BANGALORE MEDICAL COLLEGE AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE

INTRODUCTION: HIV/AIDS epidemic is one of the challenges in public health in India. Young people are more vulnerable for getting in contact with the disease. Medical students during their tenure of student life can play a pivotal role in knowledge transmission about the disease to the general public. This study was conducted at Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute to find out the awareness of HIV/AIDS among first year medical students. METHODOLOGY: A Cross sectional study was done among 250 MBBS students of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute during the academic year of 2012-2013. The information was collected from them within 2-3 weeks of admission to the course using pre-tested semi structured questionnaire. RESULTS: The mean age of the study population was 18(+1) years. Males comprised 64% and females comprised 36% of respondents. 29% of them were from rural background and 67% from Urban. 97% of the participants know that HIV causative agent is virus. 49% of them said it is contagious, 42% of them said non-contagious and 8.9% say they don't know. They had adequate knowledge about modes of transmission of HIV/AIDS was through blood transfusion, unsterilized instrument, and mother to child transmission. But regarding sexual transmission among two HIV infected person, 40% of them said it is safe. 92% of them felt HIV can be prevented by taking proper precautions. 94% of them got the information from mass media especially from TV. 55% of them received formal sex education in Schools and Colleges. CONCLUSION: Young medical students can be used as a resource persons for educating the youth at the community level.