Abstract
Background and Objective: There is a rising concern about Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) related knowledge in rural communities of Sudan. This study focuses on determining the extend of knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes about HIV/ AIDS among rural communities difficult to access in the six States of Sudan. Subjects and Methods: Six thousand and one hundred twenty five respondents were interviewed through the method of house-to-house visits. A structured questionnaire was administered by research assistants recruited from the Faculty of Medicine, Khartoum University during a rural residency campaign in six states of Central, Eastern and Northern Sudan during 2008/2009. Results: Of the total interviewees, 48% were aware of the HIV/AIDS risk; 46% reported to have good health seeking behaviors for HIV/AIDS. 54.4% of women reported to have better knowledge about the disease than men (45.6%). 38% (2005) had not heard of safety use of condom whereas 16% (320) had used it. Logistic regression revealed that 5.3% of knowledge about the disease was explained by gender, education and religion adjusted over age of the respondents. Conclusions: Mass media were the most common source of information about the existent risk of HIV/AIDS in rural communities. These findings could assist Sudanese National Aids Programme (SNAP), healthcare providers and policymakers to develop informative materials and health education programs to educate rural community is about the risk of HIV/AIDS.
Highlights
Sudan is the second largest country in Africa bordered by ten countries, some of which have high prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) [1]
Data was collected from permanent residents of rural communities to investigate their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about HIV/AIDS and provide them with health education concerning the risks of the disease
All these factors play main roles in leaving these communities isolated from the access of knowledge on a regular basis
Summary
Sudan is the second largest country in Africa bordered by ten countries, some of which have high prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) [1]. In 2005, after signing a peace treaty between north and south to end over twenty years of civil war, many refugees in these neighboring countries returned home This raised a concern among the community that some of these returnees may have been infected with HIV and were unaware of it, which would significantly add to the current estimates of 600,000 living with HIV/AIDS in the country [2]. The estimated number of infected children less than 15 years was 25,000, and the number of deaths exceeded 25,000 These figures place Sudan at an intermediate HIV and AIDS prevalence of 1.6% [3,4,5,6]. There is a rising concern about Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) related knowledge in rural communities of Sudan. These findings could assist Sudanese National Aids Programme (SNAP), healthcare providers and policymakers to develop informative materials and health education programs to educate rural community is about the risk of HIV/AIDS
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