A Community Based Study of HIV/AIDS Knowledge Among Housewives of Rural and Urban Background in Punjab

Introduction: When the history of 20^th century tragedies is written, the pages devoted to Acquired immuno- deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) will be extensive. This modern day plague has and will continue to have profound shattering effects on individuals and societies throughout the world. Marriage does not always protect a woman from becoming infected with HIV. Various studies have been done to ascertain the awareness of different subjects like nurses , doctors ,students, males but fewer attempts have been made to assess the awareness levels among housewives towards HIV/AIDS. Methodology: A community based study was conducted among housewives in rural and urban field practice area of Department of Community Medicine ,D.M.C and H Ludhiana district . Pre-designed questionnaire was used to explore awareness levels of housewives towards HIV/AIDS as a disease. Data analysis was done using SPSS 16.0 version. Results: More than half of subjects in rural as well as in urban area were not aware whether HIV and AIDS are synonymous or not. On the whole, 66% of subjects in both rural and urban area had no knowledge about cause of HIV/AIDS . There was observed lack of knowledge about sign and symptoms of AIDS among subjects in the present study. Majority of subjects both in rural (88%) as well as in urban (85.6%) area knew that AIDS is a preventable disease. Conclusions: HIV prevention and intervention strategies need to focus on married, monogamous Indian women whose self-perception of HIV risk may be low, but whose risk is inextricably linked to the behavior of their husbands.