Exploration of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of street children on the prevention of HIV and AIDS in the Huye district, Rwanda.

Unlabelled: HIV and AIDS is a pandemic that continues to ravage humanity worldwide, especially among the youth. Street children are victims of society and are up to 10-25 times more affected by HIV and AIDS than their counterparts who live with their families.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to explore the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of street children with regard to the prevention of HIV and AIDS.

Methods: A cross sectional study with a quantitative approach was carried out in two street children centres in the Huye district, which is situated in the Southern Province of Rwanda. Non probability convenience sampling was used and 83 participants between the ages of 10 and 18 years old were invited to participate. These comprised of 43 females (51.8%) and 40 males (48.2%), A questionnaire, which was translated into Kinyarwanda, was used to collect data from the participants.

Results: The findings indicated that the knowledge level of the participants was moderate at 71.7%. However, they still had misconceptions regarding HIV and AIDS as 16.9% of the participants said that there is a vaccine for HIV and AIDS and that it is curable. While 78.3% of the participants knew that HIV could be transmitted by body fluids, only 45.8% and 49.4% knew that it could be transmitted by oral sex and anal sex respectively. The current study revealed that 36.1% of the participants were currently sexually active and 53.7% had not used a condom during their last sexual intercourse. A total of 21.7% of the participants had been given money; drugs or place to sleep in exchange for sex and 20.7% declared that they had unwillingly been forced to have sex.

Conclusions: It is evident that although street children have a moderate knowledge level about HIV and AIDS, they still have certain misconceptions and are exposed to HIV and AIDS due to their risky behaviours. The health professionals should implement a programme of HIV and AIDS prevention among street children so that the street children life may be saved.