Abstract

BackgroundPrevious researchers have found that young university students can have a high level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS infection, but they are still not utilizing the existing HIV prevention methods. As a result there is a need to determine which factors and barriers influence the use of existing HIV screening and prevention methods among students of the University of Vlora in Albania.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study conducted among university students in the district of Vlora, Albania from April to June 2018. Stratified, multi-stage sampling technique was used to select randomly study subjects. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to reflect the relationship between variables.ResultsThe mean age of the participants (710) was 20.85 ± 2.1 years. 38% of them believe that chances of getting HIV would not stop them to have sexual intercourse with more than one partner, 69% report that using a condom seems like an insult to their partner. 78% of the students with sexual experience didn’t used Voluntary Counseling and Testing services. The students from the rural area (AOR = 0.50, 95% CI [0.30–0.82]) and those of first academic year (AOR second/first year =2.31, 95% CI [1.33–3.99], AOR third/first year =1.18, 95% CI [0.65–2.13]) were less likely to use HIV service.ConclusionsThe findings reveal that health beliefs and barriers are good predictors of the preventive behaviours toward HIV infection. The survey has provided evidence to suggest that creating awareness about HIV prevention among student community, especially those from non-health sciences and rural areas could contribute to increased uptake of the VCT services, the condom use and to reduce the identified stigmatizing barriers.

Highlights

  • Previous researchers have found that young university students can have a high level of knowledge about Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) infection, but they are still not utilizing the existing HIV prevention methods

  • The findings reveal that health beliefs and barriers are good predictors of the preventive behaviours toward HIV infection

  • The survey has provided evidence to suggest that creating awareness about HIV prevention among student community, especially those from non-health sciences and rural areas could contribute to increased uptake of the Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services, the condom use and to reduce the identified stigmatizing barriers

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Summary

Introduction

Previous researchers have found that young university students can have a high level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS infection, but they are still not utilizing the existing HIV prevention methods. As a result there is a need to determine which factors and barriers influence the use of existing HIV screening and prevention methods among students of the University of Vlora in Albania. There are many minor and major factors that help the HIV/AIDS (Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) epidemic in national, regional, continental and global level. In 2016, the majority of the European countries reported 160,453 new HIV cases in the World Health Organisation. This continued trend corresponds to a rate of 18,2 per 100,000 people [4]. The number of reported HIV- positive cases for youth aged 15–29 was about 22% of the total number of cases [4, 5]

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