[Teaching and including HIV/AIDS in the curricula of a medical school sample in Mexico].

BACKGROUND

The HIV/AIDS epidemic is apublic health problem that has had an impact on all health systems around the world. Mexico is no exception. Although it has been acknowledged that we have a concentrated epidemic, the problem continues to grow.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to evaluate if the medical school curricula in Mexico included the topic of HIV/AIDS and to assess the level of knowledge medical students have about this disease.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Descriptive study of eight medical schools interviewing pre-graduate medical students.

RESULTS

Only 15% of the curricula of private medical schools and 21.7% of public schools included the subject of HIV/AIDS. Although it is difficult to standardize this finding, an average of 8.8 hours was assigned to the study of HIV/AIDS. 90% of the professors involved in teaching the topic of HIV/AlDS hadno clinical experience in thefield

CONCLUSION

HIV/AIDS is a low priority subject in our medical school curricula. Efforts must be placed to standardize and reinforce this highly important topic.