Affiliation:
1. Departments of Pediatrics and ENT Kyriakou Children's Hospital Athens Greece
2. Siatista Health Center Kozani Greece
Abstract
SUMMARY Adolescents and young adults comprise one of the fastest‐growing categories of AIDS cases. The results of an opinion survey taken of 3242 adolescents raise serious doubts about the prevalent view that high‐risk behaviour is attributable to insufficient information and education on AIDS: female adolescents are found to be at risk despite having the proper knowledge. Five chief factors affected the knowledge and behaviour of adolescents: age, gender, origin, family profession, and parental education. Each of the subpopulations (females, younger adolescents, children in rural areas) has its own characteristics and needs. We describe a permanent and long‐term intervention programme, which might be applied in any country.