Prevalence, Associated Risk Factors, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of HIV/AIDS among Patients Visiting Metema Yohanness Primary Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia

Introduction HIV/AIDS remains a major global public health challenge and continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ethiopia, HIV infection remains a major public health concern, yet evidence on its prevalence and associated factors is limited in some areas. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of HIV infection, associated risk factors, and the knowledge, attitude, and practice related to HIV/AIDS among patients visiting Metema Yohanness Primary Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess HIV prevalence and associated factors. Given the binary nature of the outcome variable (HIV status: positive/negative), associations with independent variables were analyzed using logistic regression. Bivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between HIV seropositivity and each independent variable, including socio-demographic, behavioral, biological, and practice related factors. Due to the small number of HIV-positive cases, multivariable logistic regression was not conducted to avoid model overfitting and unstable estimates. Crude odds ratios (CORs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals were calculated to estimate the strength of associations, and a two-tailed P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant . Results The overall prevalence of HIV infection was (3.7%). The prevalence of HIV was marginally higher in women (3.94%) than in men (3.15%) and in urban dwellers (3.8%) than in rural ones (3.1%). Participants who were divorced or widowed had significantly higher odds of HIV infection than those who were single after controlling for potential confounders (COR = 4.62% and COR = 4.43%, respectively). The odds of being HIV-positive were 10.57 times higher for participants who reported having three or more lifetime sexual partners than for those who reported having no lifetime sexual partners (COR = 10.57%). The majority of respondents (94.5%) showed a good understanding of HIV/AIDS, and 63.3% had positive attitudes. Nonetheless, poor HIV preventive practices were reported by more than half of the participants (56.5%). Conclusion This study demonstrated a notable prevalence of HIV infection in the study area, with significant associations observed with socio-demographic and behavioral factors. Although knowledge and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS were generally high, unsafe practices remained common. These findings highlight the need for strengthened, community-based HIV prevention, care, and support programs that focus on translating knowledge into safer practices, particularly among high-risk and vulnerable populations.