Introduction: Students of higher education are more likely to be at risk of HIV/AIDS. Insufficient knowledge and less favourable attitudes are the major hindrances to prevent the spread of HIV.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess HIV/AIDS related knowledge and attitude of first year college students in Siliguri sub-division of Darjeeling district.

Materials & Methods: An Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among 460 first year college students during November and December 2016. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect Socio-demographic variables, Knowledge and Attitude of students. Authors guided self-administered data collection technique was used to collect data. Mean score and percentage were used to determine the level of Knowledge and Attitude. Interpretation and analysis of the data was done using IBM SPSS version 20.

Results: Out the 460 students, who participated, 126 were males and 334 were females. All the students had heard about HIV/AIDS. Majority (61.7%) of students participated in this study had information on the difference between HIV and AIDS. There was statistically significant difference among males and females about their knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS.

Conclusion: Though the general level of knowledge of students about HIV/AIDS was not poor, they had a number of misconceptions about it, which need to be addressed. 

Keywords: College students, Knowledge, Attitude, HIV/AIDS.

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Dr Louis Tirkey

Assistant Professor, Community Medicine, North Bengal Medical College

P.O. Sushrutnagar, West Bengal, India, Pin: 734012

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Mobile: 9434234599