ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To assess the awareness and attitude towards AIDS and PLHA in slum dwellers of Chennai, an Indian metropolis by KAP (Knowledge, Attitude, Practice) study. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted in a representative sample of 650 subjects (400 females and 250 females), aged 15-45 years, by means of a questionnaire in the local dialect Tamil. RESULTS: The overall literacy rate was 64%, with males being 70% and females being 60% literate. 20% of males and 11% of females do not know about a disease called AIDS. Only 67% of males and 55% of females are aware of the sexual mode of transmission. 34% of males and 50% females opine that AIDS is also a hereditary disease. Also 45% of males and 62% of females feel that AIDS also spreads by air, fomites, or mosquito-bite. Only 30% of males and 22% females know about the possible symptoms of AIDS. 30% of males and 45% of females never ask for a new syringe if not provided, as they are totally unaware of its significance. 43% of males and 78% of females do not know about the risk of a barber's blade. 56% of males and 71% of females feel that AIDS can be treated at least by a traditional medicine. Lastly, 48% of males and 60% females prefer outcasting an AIDS patient from the slum. CONCLUSIONS: AIDS awareness in the slum dwellers of Chennai is very poor. Corresponding awareness in suburbs and rural areas will be much worse. Conventional IEC methods targeting general population via mass media are not reaching the slum dwellers, even in a metropolitan city. A specially designed targeted intervention is needed.
Subject(s)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Attitude to Health , Barbering , Cross-Sectional Studies , Educational Status , Female , Health Education , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Herbal Medicine , Humans , India , Male , Medicine, Traditional , Middle Aged , Poverty Areas , Risk Factors , Syringes , Urban PopulationABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This study has been carried out to assess the effect of tobacco smoking and of betel quid chewing with tobacco on buccal mucosa by cytomorphometry, in a south Indian population. STUDY DESIGN: Cellular diameter (CD) and nuclear diameter (ND) of exfoliated buccal squames obtained from clinically normal appearing buccal mucosa of tobacco smokers, betel quid with tobacco chewers, and those with a combined habit, stained by the Papanicolaou method, were measured. Non-users served as negative controls and oral squamous cell carcinomas in tobacco users served as positive controls. One way ANOVA test of the values obtained followed by multiple range comparison with Tukey-HSD procedure (at p=0.05) was carried out. RESULTS: A statistically significant reduction in CD and increase in ND in smokers and those with a combined habit were observed. CONCLUSION: The use of tobacco in the form of smoking influences the cytomorphology of buccal mucosa.