A Study of HIV/AIDS Awareness and Attitude of Rural and Slum women of Firozabad and Mainpuri District of Uttar Pradesh

HIV/AIDS still remains a threat to development of people of all age and Nationalities. It is pandemic, now at the beginning of its third decade, is one of the most devastating diseases, currently. It deprives families, communities and entire nations of people at their most productive ages. Globally, 36.9 million people were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2014.

HIV continues to profoundly affect women and girls across all regions. India was the second largest population infected with HIV/AIDS and over 29.23 percent of all reported AIDS cases were women (NACO 2012). The figures in India as well as all over the world show that HIV/AIDS victims amongst women will increase faster than the man

A rise in the infection of women with ignorance means an increase in the infection of infants born to them. This means greater impact of the disease on women and children in particular, and society as a whole. AIDS affects women not as single entities but their multiple roles as mothers, wives, educationists, income providers and health-care providers. It is felt by the health workers and experts that only factual knowledge and accurate attitude is the most powerful weapons to fight this problem.

In this context, the author made a scientific attempt to judge the level of awareness and attitude of women of rural and slum areas of Firozabad and Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh. This study was conducted on 120 women of rural and slum areas of Firozabad and Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh.

It is concluded from the study that the respondent's awareness regarding basic facts about HIV/AIDS, causes of HIV infection, prevention against HIV infection and government programme and policy against HIV/AIDS was high. While regarding to the sexually transmitted infections, symptoms of HIV/AIDS, progression stages of HIV/AIDS and medical tests and treatment for HIV/AIDS, the awareness level in most cases was low. Overall level of awareness regarding HIV/AIDS of most of the respondents was at medium level.

Data related to attitude regarding HIV/AIDS was collected under two sections: -section 1-Attitude regarding HIV/AIDS infection and section 2: -Attitude regarding PLWHA

The result shows that majority of the respondents (48.33 percent) had neutral attitude regarding HIV/AIDS infection, while 30 percent and 21.67 percent of the respondents had favourable and unfavourable attitude receptively regarding HIV/AIDS infection.

Findings about the attitude regarding people living with HIV/AIDS infection show that majority of the respondents (40.00 percent) had favourable attitude regarding PLWHA, while 36.67 percent and 23.33 percent of the respondents had neutral and unfavourable attitude receptively regarding PLWHA.

Overall attitude was obtained by pooling up the score of both sections. Findings regarding to the overall attitude show that majority of the respondents (43.33 percent) had neutral attitude while 33.34 percent of the respondents had favourable attitude. The data further shows that only 23.33 percent of the respondents had overall unfavourable attitude regarding HIV/AIDS.