Young People's Knowledge About HIV/AIDS

A secondary analysis of DHS data for 17 African countries has been conducted. The analysis focuses on girls, and boys where available, aged 15-19. Countries included in the analysis are: Benin; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Comoros; Cote d'Ivoire; Kenya; Madagascar; Mali; Mozambique; Niger; Senegal; Tanzania; Togo; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe.

It looks at basic demographic information, onset of sexual activity, knowledge levels, access to (and sources of) information on HIV/AIDS, condom use, and school attendance of orphaned children.

Cameroon

Chad

Kenya

Findings indicate that knowledge levels are alarmingly low: using DHSdata from half the countries in Sub Saharan Africa it is estimated that 16 million girls (47%) aged 15-19 do not know that a healthy looking person can have the AIDS virus.