Lecturer in Health Education, M.O.S.C, Medical Collge, Kolenchery, Kerala State, India
Online published on 13 February, 2013.
AIDS is spreading at an alarming rate among women. UNAIDS figures state that 0.8% of the total adult population (15-45yrs) in India is living with HIV/AIDS, of which 1.5% million are women. So the assessment of rural women towards HIV/AIDS is important.
The study was undertaken to assess the knowledge level of rural women in Kerala regarding various modes of transmission of HIV/AIDS.
This was a cross sectional descriptive study, a sample of 400 rural women of 15–45 years were randomly selected from Choornikara Panchayath area in Ernakulam District by applying simple random sampling method. Structured Interview schedule was used for collecting the data.
17% of women knew all modes of disease transmission and 27% of them knew only two modes. 52% responded sex is the common way of transmission and 19% said that blood is the effective way of transmission.
Sexual subordination due to socio-economic factors lack women of their power to negotiate against unsafe sex and the awareness is the only tool to prevent them from the enormity of the problem.
HIV/AIDS, Assessment, Awareness, Women, Rural Population
