Knowledge of HIV/AIDS and preventive measures use by city commuter-bus drivers and conductors in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
OBJECTIVE
The study was aimed at assessing the knowledge of the drivers and conductors on HIV/AIDS epidemic and its preventive measures.


METHODS
This descriptive study was prospectively conducted among randomly selected city commuter-bus drivers and conductors from December 2006 to April 2007 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. The study parameters included the general knowledge of the respondents on HIV/AIDS, treatment by anti-retroviral therapy and different types of preventive measures. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews using semi- structured questionnaires.


RESULTS
A total of 333 respondents voluntarily participated in the study. It was found that out of all respondents who had heard about HIV/AIDS, 93.9% heard it from the media particularly radios, televisions and newspapers. The results further showed no significant difference (p=0.08) of knowledge on HIV/AIDS between the drivers and conductors. Drivers (84.3%) and conductors (80.1%) pointed out condom as the common method of prevention from contracting HIV/AIDS. Among other preventive measures known to them, 75.5% and 52.9% of the drivers and conductors pointed out faithfulness respectively. However results indicated that 49.30% of the respondents were practicing faithfulness to their partners as a preventive measure while 40.9% were using condoms and only 9.6% were practicing abstinence.


CONCLUSIONS
This study has shown that city commuter-bus drivers and conductors in Dar Es Salaam, have "adequate" knowledge on HIV/AIDS and preventive measures and the major source of this knowledge is through the public media.
Mugoyelaand
V
V
School of Pharmacy, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. vmgoyela@muchs.ac.tz
Charles
V
V
D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015497:HIV-1; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009790:Occupations; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015229:Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D013636:Tanzania; D014186:Transportation; D014505:Urban Population