Knowledge, Attitude and Practice regarding management of HIV /AIDS among Postgraduate Medical Internee working in Tertiary Hospitals of Karachi

Abstract

Introduction: In this modern era the number of new HIV infections has dropped; but Pakistan remains among few regional countries witnessing an increase in cases. On the other hand most, Pakistani people have inadequate knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS. In a study conducted in Pakistan concluded that it is a mutual misconception in overall population or society is that being Muslim, HIV cannot be contracted.
Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice about HIV/AIDS among post-graduate medical Doctor of Medicine Working in the tertiary care Hospitals of Karachi.
Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done at three randomly selected tertiary care hospitals of Karachi. All the postgraduates’ medicine’s trainee of three hospitals were approached for data collection. The data was collected by the principal investigator through structured questionnaire based on 31 questions regarding knowledge, attitude, practice and management of HIV/AIDS patients by the participants. The study duration was 6 months. SPSS version 24 was used to analyze data.
Results: The study showed that the one third of participants (35.3%) had adequate knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS, whereas large number of internees had adequate attitude (69.7%) towards HIV Patients, and almost one fourth participants had adequate practice and management (26.1%) approach towards HIV/AIDS cases.
Conclusion: The Postgraduate internee has sufficient attitude, while poor knowledge and practices towards HIV/AIDS cases. To improve HIV/AIDS management strategy, it is highly recommended to create awareness among health care provider as well as general population through emphasis on all components of KAP.
Keywords: KAP, HIV, AIDS, tertiary care hospital.