Hospital pharmacists’ knowledge about and attitude toward HIV/AIDS and patients living with HIV/AIDS in Kedah, Malaysia

INTRODUCTION: The current study aims to explore the knowledge, attitude, and perception of hospital pharmacists towards HIV/AIDS and patients living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among the hospital pharmacists in three government hospitals in Kedah, using a self-administered 43-item questionnaire. Data analysis was done using non-parametric and multinomial regression. RESULTS: A total of 75 respondents participated in this study, resulting in a response rate of 60.8%. The majority were found to be well aware of the causes of HIV/AIDS. However, about 34 (45.3%) believed erroneously that HIV/AIDS cannot be transmitted through tattooing or body piercing. Nearly 25 (33.3%) of the respondents believed that preventing the use of intravenous drugs may not be effective to prevent HIV/AIDS and endorsed social isolation as a measure to prevent HIV/AIDS. The majority (66.6%) had negative attitudes and about 20% held extremely negative attitudes. Findings from regression modelling revealed that hospital (–2 log likelihood = 215.182, χ(2) = 18.060, Df = 8, p = 0.021) and gender (–2 log likelihood = 213.643, χ(2) = 16.521, Df = 8, p = 0.035) were more likely to affect the attitudes of respondents. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, more than one third of the respondents were found to have negative attitudes towards PLWHA. Gender, job experience, and hospitals with more HIV/AIDS patient visits were the main factors affecting attitudes.