The purpose of this study was to examine knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of the University of Botswana undergraduate students toward HIV/AIDS. The investigation entailed (a) how much knowledge both the students and the professionals have on the mode of transmission, infection and method of prevention. (b) The attitudes and beliefs of the students and the University of Botswana interviewed professionals toward the disease and those infected. The major question was what are the University of Botswana undergraduate students' knowledge, attitudes and beliefs regarding HIV/AIDS? In order to address this question, the following were sub-problems that addressed the investigations of parts of the main problem: (1) At which level do the University of Botswana undergraduate students first learn about HIV/AIDS? (2) What are the University of Botswana undergraduate students' channels of HIV/AIDS information?
This study triangulated through in-depth interviews for both students and the professionals and observations of the interviewed students. Ten students and six professionals were interviewed and 92 responded to the survey. Descriptive analysis of percentages and frequencies are coupled with in-depth interviews to analyze, summarize and make recommendations. The data analysis reflect a number of loopholes in the students' knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, communication channels and the level at which they first heard about HIV/AIDS. Such loopholes include: strongly valued and practiced cultural taboos and beliefs, ambivalence toward condom use, gender issues, scanty, insufficient and inconsistent HIV/AIDS information.
