Influence of Guidance on HIV/AIDS Awareness among Secondary School Learners in Kabete Sub-County, Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Ever since HIV/AIDS was declared a national disaster, the prevalence rate of the disease had been reducing but in recent past the prevalence rate for youth aged between 15 to 24 years has been on the rise. Even with the efforts made by the Kenyan government, 41% of all new HIV infections occurred among the youth in Kenya aged 15-24 years in 2013 according to the National Aids Control Council, 2015. In this regard, the level of awareness of youth at this age bracket needed to be evaluated. The youth bracket of 15-24 years comprises of learners in secondary schools, and those in tertiary institution. This paper presents work carried out on influence of guidance on HIV/AIDS awareness among secondary among school learners in Kabete sub- county, Kiambu county. The study specifically looked at determining whether guidance from peers, parents, school and media promotes HIV/AIDS awareness among the learners in secondary schools aged 15 years to 18 years. Learners were asked questions on the causes of HIV/AIDS, preventive and control measures of HIV/AIDS and stigma and discrimination encountered by PLWHA; this provided information on the HIV/AIDS awareness among the learners. The study adapted a descriptive survey research design. It has targeted secondary schools’ students in Kabete sub-county, Kiambu county. Simple random sampling was used to select 281 students as respondents. Questionnaires were the tool to be used to collect data and quantitative data was obtained and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results obtained indicated that guidance had a lot of influence on HIV/AIDS awareness among the learners. The learners had awareness in the causes, stigmatization and discrimination of PLWHA and control measures of HIV/AIDS but awareness on preventive measures of HIV/AIDS was low.
Peer guidance created a lot of awareness on sex education matters but learners rarely talked about the virus due to stigma. Parental and Media guidance were noted as being ineffectivesince they are not used often to create awareness. School guidance through the guidance and counselling department have been able to create HIV/AIDS awareness among the learner.
Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Awareness, Guidance