Determinants of Awareness of High School and Preparatory Students About HIV/AIDS: The Case of Sayint Preparatory and General Secondary School, South Wollo, Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continued to be the major threat to the world. The Ethiopian National Plan, as well as the UNAIDS target for the year 2021-2025, is to significantly reduce the transmission, enhance the prevention and control strategies to reduce deaths from the disease. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the determinants of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) towards HIV/AIDS among Sayint Preparatory and General Secondary School students. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from August to September 2023. Purposive sampling was used to select the site, and simple random sampling was used to recruit study participants. RESULTS: The majority of the respondents had good knowledge (87.3%), positive attitude (88.9%), and good practice (88.6%). From the multivariate analysis, being from an urban area (AOR = 6.52, CI: 2.22-19.12), Grade 10 (AOR, 2.70; CI: 1.15-6.36), and Grade 11 (AOR, 3.69; CI: 1.47-9.30) and (AOR, 2.41-30.27) were factors associated with the knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Being married (AOR, 3.98, CI: 1.10-14.56) and obtaining information from family members (AOR, 0.30; CI: 0.11-0.80) were variables significantly associated with attitude towards HIV/AIDS. CONCLUSION: The KAP of the respondents towards HIV/AIDS was high, but misconceptions were also noted. Extensive sex education programs in schools should be devised to solve the risks associated with HIV/AIDS.