Hospital pharmacists’ knowledge about and attitude toward HIV/AIDS and patients living with HIV/AIDS in Kedah, Malaysia

INTRODUCTION The current study aims to explore the knowledge, attitude, and perception of hospital pharmacists towards HIV/AIDS and patients living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. MATERIAL AND METHODS This was a cross-sectional study conducted among the hospital pharmacists in three government hospitals in Kedah, using a self-administered 43-item questionnaire. Data analysis was done using non-parametric and multinomial regression. RESULTS A total of 75 respondents participated in this study, resulting in a response rate of 60.8%. The majority were found to be well aware of the causes of HIV/AIDS. However, about 34 (45.3%) believed erroneously that HIV/AIDS cannot be transmitted through tattooing or body piercing. Nearly 25 (33.3%) of the respondents believed that preventing the use of intravenous drugs may not be effective to prevent HIV/AIDS and endorsed social isolation as a measure to prevent HIV/AIDS. The majority (66.6%) had negative attitudes and about 20% held extremely negative attitudes. Findings from regression modelling revealed that hospital (-2 log likelihood = 215.182, χ(2) = 18.060, Df = 8, p = 0.021) and gender (-2 log likelihood = 213.643, χ(2) = 16.521, Df = 8, p = 0.035) were more likely to affect the attitudes of respondents. CONCLUSIONS Overall, more than one third of the respondents were found to have negative attitudes towards PLWHA. Gender, job experience, and hospitals with more HIV/AIDS patient visits were the main factors affecting attitudes.