Awareness of HIV/AIDS among rural women in a south Indian community

A total of 120 women in the sexually and economically productive age group of 15-45 years, belonging to Meppedu, a rural place, 45 Km away from Chennai city were interviewed by means of structured interview schedule, just to find out the basic knowledge of these women about HIV/AIDS. Only 70.00 per cent of them knew it is the name of a disease, and 26.00 per cent of them were aware of the organism which is causing this disease. Only 41.00 per cent of the women were aware of the mode of transmission of AIDS, and 34.00 per cent were aware of the medium of HIV transmission. However, 76.00 per cent of the women had the knowledge of who are the high risk for HIV/AIDS. 48.00 per cent of the women were aware of the preventive measures for HIV infection. On the whole, it was observed in this study that the awareness on HIV/AIDS among the rural women was not high