One of the targets of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) 2016 -2021 plan is the following: '90% of young people are empowered with the skills, knowledge and capability to protect themselves from HIV' . [1] Therefore, the development of effective HIV prevention programmes is a top public health and policy priority. [2] However, in spite of calls to increase awareness of the high levels of HIV transmission in young women, [3] particularly in southern Africa, [4] there is

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... ittle scientific consensus about how best to prevent HIV infection among the youth. Comprehensive sexuality education is considered an important means of addressing adolescent risk behaviours, [5] although little evidence supports its direct effect on biological measures of prevention success, particularly of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). [5] In sub-Saharan Africa, experience with youth HIV prevention programmes is limited, with evidence regarding effectiveness still emerging. Prior reviews and studies of youth intervention programmes in both developed and developing countries [2, 5, 6] suggest an important role for education interventions to increase young people' s knowledge of sexuality, reproductive health and HIV prevention, with a majority of interventions leading to reductions in reported risk behaviours. As young people are a target for knowledge and skills development, it is imperative that more HIV/AIDS prevention and education initiatives are developed that target the nation' s youth. This research addressed the effect of an online HIV/AIDS course on student knowledge of HIV prevention and transmission and of the science of HIV infection.