Assessment Of Media Use Pattern In Hivaids Prevention Among Youths In Bahirdar Town

Introduction: Every six seconds, someone around the world is infected with HIV. Youngrnpeople account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide; more than 6000 contract thernvirus every day. Provision of accurate and timely HIV/AIDS information to modify behaviorrnby using modern media and interpersonal communication remains a top mitigative publicrnhealth priority.rnObjective: The main aim of this study is to assess the media use pattern, media preferencernand media exposure influence on KAP in HIV/AIDS prevention among youths in BahirdarrnMethods: Cross-sectional community based quantitative and qualitative study designs werernused. Adequately tailored balances of closed and open-ended questionnaires were used torninterview a sample size of 730 youths (15-24 years) of Bahirdar town in January2006. FGDrnfor purposively selected members of Anti AIDS clubs, youth associations, religious people,rnand local artists were conducted.rnResults and discussions: Among 14 potential media sources radio has been found out thernsingle most important information source medium reported by respondents. When thernpercentage of listeners per the daily-broadcast period was seen, the evening hours have thernhighest numbers of listeners of radio (50.4%) among the respondents followed by the mid dayrnor noon hours (17.8%). Six hundred twenty nine (86.2%) were known to have some kind ofrnaccess to radio sets while only 388(53.2%) of them had television sets. Youths exposed tornradio messages were more than three or more times more likely to be knowledgeable onrnHIV/AIDS transmission and prevention methods than those not exposed to radio beforernadjusting and after adjusting for other socio-demographic factors .rnConclusion and recommendations: From this study findings, it can be noted that evenrnthough different media (radio, television, prints, interpersonal) and common sources forrnHIV/AIDS messages were available, most youths may not use them frequently, and on usualrnbroadcast times. These study findings would give a baseline data for IEC/BCC programmernplanners and implementers, specifically among 15 to 24 year youths in the study area.rnTherefore it is suggested that media message dissemination would be designed based on thernmedia preferences of youths’ inline with favorite media programmes.rnviirnKey words: media use pattern, media preference, media exposure, youth, HIV/AIDS

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