IMPACT OF WORKSHOPS ON THEMES OF WORLD AIDS DAYS

Abstract

Background: Abbottonians Medical Association®, Abbottabad, Pakistan in collaboration with UNAIDS Pakistanarranged two Workshops, the first in 1999, the Theme of which was “Listen, Learn, Live", and the second in the year2000 with “Men Make Difference” as the Theme. The aim of these workshops was to create awareness amongst theparticipants regarding H1V/AIDS. Objectives: We used the data of the above-mentioned workshops to analyze thegain in knowledge and attitudes of the participants, with an idea to develop recommendations for the use of suchworkshops for increasing the awareness regarding HIV/AIDS. Methods: The data of the two above-mentionedworkshops were used to assess the percentage gain in knowledge and attitudes of the participants. We also comparedour results with the contemporary studies and developed our recommendations. Results: The results show highlysignificant (p <.001) increase in the HIV/AIDS related knowledge and attitudes in the participants of these workshops.This difference was more significant in the teachers as compared to the students, showing a higher level of awarenessin the youngsters. The net gain in the knowledge was very significant. The knowledge about HIV spread increased by28.96 % for the students and 19.54 % for the teachers, while the net gain in attitudes was 36.16 % for the students and71.43 % in the teachers. Conclusions: Short workshops on the Themes of World AIDS Days are very beneficial forimprovement in the level of awareness for HIV/AIDS prevention and control.