Media and education play a tremendous role in mounting AIDS awareness among married couples in Bangladesh

Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman,Mohammad Lutfor Rahman

doi:10.1186/1742-6405-4-10

Abstract

BackgroundTo quarantine the spreading possibility of HIV virus to general population boosting public awareness is must. But the proper awareness level is substantially low in Bangladesh. This paper aims to identify the factors associated with the awareness regarding HIV/AIDS through a bivariate and multivariate analysis using the data extracted from Bangladesh Demography and Health Survey (BDHS) 1999–2000.ResultsThe findings of both techniques show that education, occupation, socioeconomic status, status of household food consumption, area of residence and media exposure have significant (p < 0.001) contribution in determining HIV/AIDS awareness level. It also reveals that media, particularly TV, and education play the leading role regarding this issue while the others have an indirect relationship. The odds of awareness among higher educated women and men were 4.69 and 77.73 times of no educated women and men respectively. In addition, both women and men those who regularly watch TV were 8.6 times more likely to be aware about AIDS compared to those who never watch TV. This phenomenon holds true for both women and men.ConclusionAt this instant it is urgent to give emphasis on education, alleviation of poverty, ensuring electronic media exposure, head to head communication program, institutional based sex education and necessary information to learn about HIV/AIDS for the young, adult and adolescents all over the country.

Highlights

To quarantine the spreading possibility of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) virus to general population boosting public awareness is must
Bangladesh is still considered as a low HIV/Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevalent country but it is at a critical moment in the course of its AIDS epidemic [1,4,5,6,7,8]
According to UNAIDS estimates, Bangladesh, with a population of 136 million, had about 13,000 people living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2001 and that HIV prevalence in the adult population is less than 0.01% [9]

Summary

Introduction

To quarantine the spreading possibility of HIV virus to general population boosting public awareness is must. The country's vulnerability is very high compared to other parts of South Asia and infection rates within the vulnerable groups are increasing, leading to an ever-greater possibility that the virus will spread to the general population [4,5,11] In this critical situation, public awareness can play a dominating role preventing HIV/AIDS epidemic [12]. 40% ever-married women never heard HIV/AIDS, 19% ever heard but don't know any correct ways and only 41% knows one or more correct ways to avoid the disease [13] These situations have raised serious concern among the government and various stakeholders and they are seeking to increase the public awareness on HIV transmission and prevention. It is with the background, the present study has design to examine the factors that are associated with level of awareness regarding AIDS prevention

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion