Awareness and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS among residents of Kandy
Date
2015
Authors
Navaratna, Samidi
Kanda, Koji
Dharmaratne, Samath D.
Tennakoon, Sampath
Jayasinghe, Ananda
Jayasekera, Niroshan
Nagano, Katsutoshi
Obayashi, Yoshihide
Arai, Asuna
Tamashiro, Hiko
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
Abstract
Currently, interventions for HIV/AIDS control in Sri Lanka are only carried out among the most-at-risk populations. This study was conducted to identify the level of awareness and stigma-related attitudes among the general population of Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study was carried out among 869 residents of 18-64 years of age in Kandy, Sri Lanka. A self-administered questionnaire was utilised to obtain information about stigma, discrimination and HIV/AIDS-related knowledge. Chi-square test and multivariate analysis were applied to find possible associations between HIV-related variables and socio-demographic indicators. Response rate was 82.0%. Overall, 93.5% of the participants have heard of HIV/AIDS but the knowledge on HIV/AIDS was low with an average score of 51.7%, no statistically significant difference between genders (p = 0.352). Only 58.1% were aware that a condom was an effective tool for its prevention. There were many misconceptions related to epidemiology of HIV/AIDS. The participants showed more positive attitudes towards HIV/AIDS and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) for all questionnaire items except for those listed under shame and blame. Positive attitudes towards PLHIV were observed to be greater among those with a better HIV/AIDS-related knowledge score. There was no significant association between the attitudes towards PLHIV and socio-demographic characteristics such as ethnicity and religion. There is a greater need of making attempts towards educating the public regarding HIV/AIDS to eliminate misconceptions prevalent in the society. Stigma-related attitudes are mainly due to shame and blame associated with the disease. As the attitudes towards PLHIV were more positive among those with a better HIV/AIDS-related knowledge score, targeted HIV/AIDS-related health education interventions maybe recommended in this regard.
Description
Keywords
Community medicine , HIV/AIDS control , Stigma-related attitudes , AIDS awareness , Kandy , Sri Lanka
Citation
AIDS Care:Psychological Socio-Medical Aspects of AIDs/HIV