Knowledge on human immunodeficiency virus mechanisms of transmission among schoolchildren in the age range of 11 to 20 years old from poor districts of Bucaramanga, Colombia.

INTRODUCTION Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was the second most common cause of death, after injuries of external causes, among young adults from Bucaramanga in 2013. OBJETIVE To establish the extent of knowledge on HIV mechanisms of transmission prevention strategies among schoolchildren in the age range of 13 to 20 years old from poor districts of Bucaramanga. METHODOLOGY Cross-sectional study among randomly selected schoolchildren using a self-administered anonymous survey. For analysis, each outcome measure and binomial models for the association of answers by age, gender, education level and past sexual experience were described. RESULTS A survey was administered to 729 students (57% were girls); 50.6% of boys and 31.1% of girls reported having had sexual intercourse. Also, 58.6% stated that a healthy-looking person can have HIV. Besides, 69.1% indicated that HIV can be transmitted during pregnancy; 39.2%, during delivery; 37.7%, through breastfeeding; 79.7%, through needle sharing; 29.5%, by sharing food with someone who has HIV; and 31.7%, by mosquito bites. In addition, 70.6% considered that they could prevent HIV by abstaining from having sexual relationships; 67.5%, by having a single partner; and 80.0%, by wearing condoms correctly. The proportion of adequate answers was not related to a higher education level, age, gender or sexual experience. CONCLUSIONS The quality of knowledge regarding HIV mechanisms of transmission and prevention is very poor, in spite of curricular contents providing sex education. It was observed that knowledge was not greater among those with higher education levels.