Contracting HIV

Contracting HIV/AIDS

Well over 80% of learners knew that HIV can be contracted through coming into contact with another person’s blood.

**Can you get HIV if somebody else's blood goes into your body through a cut in your skin**
N=430	Other	Sapler
Yes	89	86
No	7.0	9.2
Don't know	4.3	4.6
chisq=.7066; df=2; p=.702

Similarly, the great majority of learners at both Sapler and other schools knew that it is safe to shake hands with someone who has HIV/AIDS, suggesting that irrational fear of HIV positive individuals is not widespread in the area.

**Is it safe to shake hands with someone who has HIV/AIDS**
N=430	Other	Sapler
Yes	88	86
No	7.4	7.5
Don't know	4.7	6.9
chisq=1.; df=2; p=600

Almost 70% of learners at non-Sapler schools and 75% of learners at Sapler schools knew that already having an STD increases the danger of getting HIV/AIDS. This represents fairly advanced knowledge and it is encouraging that so many learners at Sapler schools were aware of this. Further consolidating this knowledge and linking it to the fact that AIDS is incurable can function as a strong incentive for safe sex.

**If you already have an STD is there more danger of getting HIV/AIDS?**
N=427	Other	Sapler
Yes	69	75
No	11	8.1
Don't know	20	17

Learners at both Sapler and other schools therefore appear to have a reasonably good degree of knowledge about the ways in which HIV/AIDS can and cannot be contracted.