Sexual Preferences, Knowledge Attitude and Practice Regarding AIDS/HIV among Pakistani Women: An Analysis of PHDS

• In Event: 082 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session I
  In Refereed Roundtable: A. Table 25. Race and Health

Abstract

Background: Knowledge about HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is the most demanding topic these days. Women are more vulnerable to STDs including HIV/AIDS. The prevalence of HIV and Aids is increasing worldwide also in Pakistan the prevalence of HIV is 5 %.
Objective: To assess the sexual preferences, knowledge attitude and practice of Pakistani women regarding HIV/AIDS.
Methodology:
Data from PDHS 2012-13 was used. It was a cross-sectional study. A sample of 13558 women aged 15 to 49 years was taken.
Results: The mean age of the respondents was 32.69±8.55 years. There were 46.8% respondents from urban area and 53.2% from rural area, 56.4% respondents had never heard about AIDS where as 43.6 % ever heard about AIDS. Among the respondents 54.4% responded that they always use condoms to reduce the risk of getting HIV, 77.3 % responded that they have only one sex partner to reduce the risk of getting HIV,25% think that they can get HIV by mosquito bites, 30% think that they can get HIV by sharing food with persons who have HIV, only 2.4% respondents had STI in last 12 months, 69.2% respondents think that HIV is transmitted during pregnancy, 79.9% respondents don’t know where to go for an HIV test.
Conclusions: In Pakistan there are less number of people aware about HIV/AIDS so there is the need for a campaign through media and all accessible sources to aware the women of all ages about AIDS, HIV.
Key words: AIDS, HIV, Women, Pakistan, STI, PDHS

Authors

• Kamran Hanif Khan, University of Lahore

• Rubeena Zakar, University of punjab

• Dr. Abid Siddique, University of Lahore

• M. Hanif Khan, University of Lahore