ABSTRACT
HIV/AIDS being a pandemic with serious consequences affecting adolescents and youths because of risky sexual behavior particularly to females, due to economic, financial dependence, biological and social reasons. There is need for research into issues concerning preventive measures since there is no cure yet and millions of persons are affected and about 55% of the affected persons are women. This is a study conducted among the female students of Federal College of Education Technical Gusau to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of HIV/AIDS preventive measures. Structured, close-ended questionnaires were administered to 200 students using a cross sectional descriptive study design. All the respondents had heard about HIV/AIDS, they are all within the age range of 15 - 35 years. About 80% (160) had correct knowledge of mode of transmission, 70% (140) had correct knowledge of the preventive behaviour while, 5% (10) had common misconception on HIV/AIDS. On attitude, 95% of the respondents' believed that AIDS is in Nigeria while 4% did not believe. 50% of the respondents also believed tha t some of their colleagues might have AIDS while 40% did not. On practice, 40% of the respondents had stopped having sexual intercourse because of AIDS, 40% had not while 10% showed no response. 50% of respondents have stopped patronizing hair saloons because of AIDS, 10% had not while 35% were just afraid. There was no relationship between knowledge, age, tribe and religion of the respondents. In the light of the findings, it is recommended that family life or sexuality education starting early, through primary, secondary and teritiary education be institutionalized. This will enable informed choices about responsible sexual life.