Awareness of Knowledge of HIV/AIDS among Women in India and Exposure to Media

HIV and AIDS are a serious challenge for the developing as well as the developed world. The problem of HIV transmission among women still constitutes high figures in world. In 2016, it was estimated that 36.7 million people were infected with HIV/AIDS in the world among which 17.8 million were women. In India the total number of people living with HIV was 21.17 lakhs in 2015 among which children (<15) account for 6.54% while females contributed around one fifth (40.5%) of total HIV infection. Women in India constitutes a very big part around one fifth of total population living with HIV (40.5%). The importance of mass media for health promotion and disease prevention is well known Among the total women 92.1% of women have heard the word HIV/AIDS and only 7.9% of women had not. The objective of the study is to assess awareness and knowledge of HIV/AIDS and to examine the associations of exposure to mass media with awareness and comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS, targeting ever-married women in India who are considered as a potentially high risk group. Our study shows that the women listening to radio have a significant association with the comprehensive knowledge of HIV.