Knowledge, Attitude and Beliefs toward HIV among General Population of Al- Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: Introduction: Understanding the public knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS is one of the cornerstones of tackling the disease. The most common problem people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) face is the general public's lack of knowledge or misconceptions about the disease; which in turn leads to or precipitates discrimination against them, which leads to or precipitates problems with disclosure, social isolation, access to antiretroviral therapy, and psychological support. As a result, the goal of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and beliefs of population towards HIV in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A cross-sectional community-based descriptive study. The study was conducted in Al-Madinah ALMunawarrah -in 2023. Convenience sampling was implemented. A sample (n= 2006) were enrolled in this study. Data was collected through self-administrated questionnaire. Data was initially entered and cleaned using Microsoft excel, then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v.26, descriptive statistics were used and categorical data presented in form of frequencies (n) and percentages (%). Results: 2006 residents were included in this study, out of which, 1065(53.1%) of them were females. Majority had a bachelor degree 977(48.7%). Regarding knowledge assessment, analysis showed that the majority (59.3%) have poor level of knowledge. Only few of the participants were knowledgeable about the mode of transmission, where (11.4%) agreed that HIV can be transmitted through infected person cough/sneeze, (16.3%) agreed that sexual relations with infected person transmit HIV, and (12.7%) believe that HIV can be transmitted through blood products. Regarding the attitude, the majority of the participants (96.1%) have a poor level of attitude towards HIV disease. (87%) of participants think that HIV patients should be isolated from the community. Conclusions: Majority of the participants included were females, with almost half of them holding a bachelor degree. The study concluded that the majority of participants showed poor level of knowledge towards HIV, as well as a negative level of attitude towards HIV. Keywords: Human Immunodeficiency virus, attitude and stigma towards HIV, Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia. Title: Knowledge, Attitude and Beliefs toward HIV among General Population of Al- Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia Author: Banan Maatouq Al-Oufi, Khaled Awadh Al-Harbi., OLA Farouk Mahrous, Abdulelah Alharbi. International Journal of Healthcare Sciences ISSN 2348-5728 (Online) Vol. 11, Issue 1, April 2023 - September 2023 Page No: 119-130 Research Publish Journals Website: www.researchpublish.com Published Date: 10-July-2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8130368 Paper Download Link (Source) https://www.researchpublish.com/papers/knowledge-attitude-and-beliefs-toward-hiv-among-general-population-of-al--madinah-al-munawwarah-saudi-arabiaInternational Journal of Healthcare Sciences, ISSN 2348-5728 (Online), Research Publish Journals, Website: www.researchpublish.co