Influence of Gender and Demographic Variables on Awareness of Secondary School Students on HIV/AIDS Infection in Abuja, Nigeria

In many parts of the world, hiv/aids has gained pandemic dimension covering large areas and continues to spread. there are reports that worldwide, 45% of people contracting hiv/aids are adolescents aged between 15 and 24 years. the presence of hiv/aids epidemic in nigeria elicited similar response to that experienced by many countries in africa, and indeed, the world: denial, acceptance and finally actions to fight the scourge. since adolescents appear to be vulnerable to hiv/aids infection, this study ascertained the knowledge of hiv/aids infection among secondary school students in abuja. a descriptive survey design was employed. using multistage sampling technique, 602 senior secondary school students in abuja were selected to participate in the study. a self-developed validated questionnaire was used to collect data and data was analysed using mean, frequency counts, percentages to describe the data and anova, t-test and regression were used to analyse hypotheses and question set at 0.05 significant level. the major findings were that the students of older age group had knowledge of hiv/aids (p < 0.05) and the younger age group did not have knowledge; male students appear more knowledgeable than the female students (p < 0.05); gender, class and religion had influence on the knowledge of the students on hiv/aids (p < 0.05). in conclusion, gender and demographic variables continue to limit the awareness of secondary school students on hiv/aids infection. stakeholders must be involved in the proactive advocy and education of secondary school students on hiv/aids in order to gain adequate knowledge.