Effect of Media Use on HIV/AIDS-Related Knowledge and Condom Use in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Cross-Sectional Study

Minsoo Jung,Kasisomayajula Viswanath,Monisha Arya

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0068359

Minsoo Jung, Kasisomayajula Viswanath + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068359

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Abstract

It is known that the level of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and the degree of condom use varies by socioeconomic status (SES). However, there is limited research on the effect of mass media use on HIV/AIDS-related cognitive and behavioral outcomes in low-income countries and how it might influence the association between SES and HIV-related outcomes. We investigated the moderating effect of media use on the relationship between SES and HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and condom use in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of communication inequalities. Cross-sectional data from the Demographic Health Surveys from 13 sub-Saharan countries (2004–10) were pooled. Gender-stratified multivariable poisson regression of 151,209 women and 68,890 men were used to calculate adjusted relative ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the associations between SES, media use, HIV-related outcomes, and condom use. We found significant disparities in mass media use among people from different SES groups as well as among countries. Education and wealth are strongly and positively associated with awareness of HIV/AIDS and knowledge about transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS and are significantly associated with condom use. These associations are attenuated when the use of various types of mass media is added to the models, with newspapers showing the strongest effect. The findings of this study suggest that media use has the potential to blunt the impact of socioeconomic status though not completely eliminate it. Thus, we need to pay attention to reducing communication inequalities among social groups and countries to moderate the effect of wealth and SES on HIV/AIDS.

Highlights

Two-thirds of all people infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa, this region contains little more than 12 percent of the world’s population [1]
Dataset All of the data used in this study were collected by Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in various sub-Saharan African countries from 2004 to 2010
Our results indicated that the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and safe-sex behavior are moderated by the effect of media use

Summary

Introduction

Two-thirds of all people infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa, this region contains little more than 12 percent of the world’s population [1]. 31% of new HIV infections in the same year occurred in the 10 countries in southern Africa [2]. Under resource-poor conditions, using the media to increase HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and promoting condom use may be important for stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS [2]. The level of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and the degree of condom use vary according to socioeconomic status (SES) [4,5]. Little is known about their associations in sub-Saharan Africa. Our hypothesis is that the degree of media use mediates the relationship between SES and HIV/AIDS-related knowledge and condom use [6,7]

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