The Knowledge and Attitude of Married women towards HIV/AIDS in an urban community of Belgaum City, Karnataka - A cross sectional study.

ABSTRACT

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a fatal illness caused by retrovirus known as the Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV). In 2011 it was estimated that 34.2 million adults worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS, among them 16.8 million were women.The present study assessed to know the knowledge and attitude regarding HIV/AIDS in married women of reproductive age group in an urban population of Belgaum city.This crosssectional study was conducted among 400 married women of Ramnagar area of Belgaum city using simple random sampling methods. Each woman was interviewed for her level of knowledge & Attitude about HIV/AIDS. Percentage and Chi square test was used for analysis.It was found that 92.8% of women were aware about HIV/AIDS. Television (80.4%) was the main sources of information 91.5% of women said that HIV/AIDS spread by unprotected sex. 89.4% women knew that HIV/AIDS can be prevented by consistent use of condom. Majority of women had positive attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS.The study showed that, majority of the women were aware about HIV/AIDS, but some of them did not know the other aspects of the disease like ICTC and PPTCT services.