Comprehensive Knowledge of HIV and AIDS among Ghanaian Adults from 1998 to 2014: A Multilevel Logistic Regression Model Approach

• Published in: Scientifica (Cairo) 2020, Vol.2020 (2020), p.1-10
• Main Authors: da-Costa Vroom, Frances Baaba, Dery, Samuel, Owusu, Stephen, Guure, Chris B., Afagbedzi, Seth
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2090-908X; 2090-908X
• DOI: 10.1155/2020/7313497

Background. In order for stakeholders of HIV and AIDS to effectively plan HIV prevention programs, it is expedient to assess the level of individuals’ knowledge on the most common preventive methods and misconceptions of the HIV virus. This study examines the trends and determinants of comprehensive knowledge (CK) of HIV and AIDS among Ghanaians from 1998–2014. Method. The data used for this study were drawn from the Ghana Demographic Health Surveys (GDHS), 1998–2014. A separate analysis was performed on each survey-year data and GDHS pooled dataset. Additionally, both the male and female datasets were combined. The samples used for the study were 6,389, 10706, 9484, and 13784 representing 1998, 2003, 2008, and 2014, respectively. The pooled dataset consisted of 40363 responses. The Pearson chi-square test and multilevel binary logistic regression analysis were carried out to assess the association between the study variables and CK of HIV and AIDS. Results. CK of HIV and AIDS was found to be lower in women than men (29.24% vs. 37.7%) using the pooled dataset. The Greater Accra region recorded the highest percentage of CK of HIV and AIDS (44.18%), whereas the Northern region recorded the lowest (17.87%) among the 10 administrative regions in Ghana. Comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS was also found to be less likely with an OR of 0.72 (95% CI; 0.65, 0.79, p