Knowledge, Awareness and Attitudes Related to HIV/AIDS Among Urban and Rural Married Women Belonging to an Ethnic Population of India

The present study compares knowledge, awareness and attitudes related to HIV/AIDS between 645 urban and 499 rural women aged between 20-45 years belonging to Rajbanshi ethnic population of North Bengal, India using multi-stage random sampling method. Data related to knowledge, awareness and attitudes related to HIV/AIDS was recorded using a pre-structured questionnaire and open-ended interviews. Data were statistically analysed using chi-square analysis, regression analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 16.0) and R (version 4.0.0). Results of PCA analysis showed that significant differences existed in the knowledge, awareness and attitudes related to HIV/AIDS between the rural and urban women (p