Knowledge of HIV/AIDS and preventive measures use by city commuter-bus drivers and conductors in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

OBJECTIVE

The study was aimed at assessing the knowledge of the drivers and conductors on HIV/AIDS epidemic and its preventive measures.

METHODS

This descriptive study was prospectively conducted among randomly selected city commuter-bus drivers and conductors from December 2006 to April 2007 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. The study parameters included the general knowledge of the respondents on HIV/AIDS, treatment by anti-retroviral therapy and different types of preventive measures. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews using semi- structured questionnaires.

RESULTS

A total of 333 respondents voluntarily participated in the study. It was found that out of all respondents who had heard about HIV/AIDS, 93.9% heard it from the media particularly radios, televisions and newspapers. The results further showed no significant difference (p=0.08) of knowledge on HIV/AIDS between the drivers and conductors. Drivers (84.3%) and conductors (80.1%) pointed out condom as the common method of prevention from contracting HIV/AIDS. Among other preventive measures known to them, 75.5% and 52.9% of the drivers and conductors pointed out faithfulness respectively. However results indicated that 49.30% of the respondents were practicing faithfulness to their partners as a preventive measure while 40.9% were using condoms and only 9.6% were practicing abstinence.

CONCLUSION

This study has shown that city commuter-bus drivers and conductors in Dar Es Salaam, have "adequate" knowledge on HIV/AIDS and preventive measures and the major source of this knowledge is through the public media.