The Effectiveness of HIV/AIDS awareness intervention in a rural area of Cambodia: illiteracy, mobility, sexual behavior, and HIV/AIDS

ABSTRACT

<B>Objective:</B> To convey HIV⁄AIDS-related knowledge to people in rural Cambodia, we conducted an HIV⁄AIDS awareness intervention program and investigated its effectiveness, participants’ sexual behavior, HIV-related knowledge, and their attitude to HIV⁄AIDS.<br><B>Methods:</B> We conducted HIV⁄AIDS awareness intervention in a rural area of Cambodia from April to November 2007. We selected three villages (a total of 180 villagers) in Siem Reap Province. Our HIV⁄AIDS awareness intervention involved practical explanations by well-trained Cambodian staff using visual material and participatory activities in order to promote interest among illiterate participants. We implemented a cross-sectional study in each village after the HIV⁄AIDS awareness intervention using a questionnaire written in Khmer and assisted by a Cambodian NGO.<br><B>Results:</B> Two-thirds of the participants had not finished primary school and had difficulties reading and writing. A total of 77.8% of the people had obtained HIV⁄AIDS-related information from NGOs.<br><B>Conclusion:</B> The HIV⁄AIDS awareness intervention was welcomed by most of the villagers and positively influenced HIV⁄AIDS-related knowledge through the use of practical explanations. Rural areas are still more vulnerable to HIV⁄AIDS transmission, and at the same time more likely to be influenced by NGOs, than cities because of high rates of illiteracy and a lack of access to general HIV⁄AIDS-related information sources including television, books, newspapers, and the Internet. NGOs need to increase their efforts to educate the vulnerable populations in rural areas.