Analysis of AIDS sentinel surveillance among college students in Taizhou of Zhejiang Province in 2016‒2018 / 上海预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective:To determine the prevalence of AIDS/HIV， sexual behavior， knowledge， and access to HIV-related services among college students in Taizhou from 2016 through 2018， and provide scientific evidence for developing targeted strategies and measures. Methods:Based on the National HIV/AIDS Sentinel Surveillance， a cross-sectional survey was conducted annually among college students in three sentinels by a multi-stage cluster sampling across Taizhou， using questionnaire and laboratory examination. Results:A total of 4 185 college students were surveyed during 2016–2018， in which the proportion of reporting sexual behavior was 7.7%， with 58.4% using condom at. Sexual behavior， with fixed sexual partners， casual partners， commercial partners， and homosexual partners accounted for 68.7%， 23%， 4.0%， and 4.0%， respectively. Sexual experience and sexual behavior with fixed partners were statistically different among colleges and gender， which was much higher in male and vocational schools. The awareness rate of HIV/AIDS knowledge was 65.8%； 3.6% was found to have HIV voluntary counseling and testing， in which 7.8% had sexual behavior， indicating an upward trend over years. No college student tested positive for HIV from 2016 to 2018， and only one tested positive for anti-syphilis antibody and one positive for anti-hepatitis C antibody. Conclusions:Young male and vocational students in Taizhou are likely to have more sexual behavior and lower awareness on HIV/AIDS. College students have at-risk sexual behavior， insufficient awareness of HIV/AIDS， which may facilitate high risk of infection. It warrants further strengthening HIV/AIDS health education.