Impact assessment of HIV and AIDS education on online partners and spouse seekers in Kenya

Abstract

About 1.6 million Kenyans are living with HIV and AIDS while an estimated 1.5 million have already died of the virus. Marrying or looking for a lifetime soul mate or partner in the era of HIV and AIDS pandemic is therefore problematic, worrying and a nightmare. Due to changing lifestyles and limited time for interaction amongst age groups in any one given population, dating has been elevated to media platform amongst sexually active men and women. However, HIV and AIDS is a reality amongst partners and spouse seekers on media platform but little research has been undertaken to understand the underlying behaviour of online spouse/partner seeking in the era of this pandemic and in the wake of its massive campaign, awareness, education, prevention, control and management strategies being put in place. The current study was therefore carried out to assess the impact of HIV and AIDS education on online partners and spouse seekers in Kenya. Advertisements of Soul mate data published both online and in Saturday Magazine of Nation Media Group Limited by sexually active persons seeking sexual partners of all categories and levels were utilized as the main source of information for the study. The Pearson Chi-Square and Fisher’s exact tests were used to analyze data. Data obtained from 820 persons with different subgroups including educational level, age, and economic backgrounds were analyzed. Study results showed a significantly higher proportion of the persons involved having perception, awareness, knowledge, attitude and practice (PAKAP) of HIV and AIDS (p < 0.05). Perception and awareness of HIV and AIDS were significant by level of education and economic status and not by gender, age, marital status, possession of children and type of relationship sought. Knowledge of HIV and AIDS was significant by level of education, economic status and not by gender, age, marital status, possession of children and by type of relationship sought. Attitude towards HIV and AIDS was significant by level of education (p < 0.05) and not by gender, age, economic status, marital status, possession of children and type of relationship sought Practices exhibited significant difference by gender (p = 0.01) and no significant difference by age, level of education, economic status, marital status possession of children and type of relationship sought. Results also showed that a significantly higher proportion of the persons involved practiced preventive, control and management measures (p < 0.05).The HIV and AIDS status and level of education were the major factors influencing the choice of partners and/or spouses. Since the results indicated that PAKAP was significant efforts should be made by all stakeholders in HIV and AIDS prevention programmes to equally target persons dating through media in order to have a wider coverage for this kind of dating is becoming a common practice amongst the sexually active group.