Knowledge of and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS in Mashhad, Islamic Republic of Iran

To assess knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS in Mashhad, 960 people aged 13-58 years who were approached in the street and agreed to participate completed an anonymous questionnaire. The mean of knowledge and attitudes scores were 9.8 [SD 3.0] and 6.1 [SD 3.0] of a total 14 and 10 respectively. People with greater knowledge of HIV/AIDS had more positive attitudes to individuals with HIV/AIDS [P < 0.01]. There were important misconceptions about HIV transmission such as through hugging, food, clothing, public places and insect bites. Regression analysis indicted that women had more tolerant attitudes than men [P < 0.01] and the more educated respondents had higher knowledge and attitudes scores [P < 0.0001 and P < 0.001 respectively]