Russom Teshome, Wang Youjie, Eyasu Habte and Nuredin Mohamedkassm
Background: Women living in Sub-Saharan Africa endure disproportionate burden of HIV/AIDS. Correct and comprehensive knowledge can change attitude and behavior related to HIV markedly. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge and acceptance attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS among women in three east African countries.
Methods: Demographic and Health Surveys in 2009, 2010, 2011 from Kenya, Burundi and Ethiopia respectively were analyzed in SPSS, using multivariate logistic regression.
Results: Awareness was more than 96% in the three countries. The variables, age (except Ethiopia), place of residence (except Kenya), educational level, religion, marital status (except Ethiopia and Kenya) and wealth index were significant associates of comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge. Similarly, age (except Ethiopia), residence (except Burundi and Kenya), educational level, religion, marital status, wealth index and comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge showed significant associations with acceptance attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS. After controlling the socio-demographic characteristics, higher comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge was observed among women in Burundi (OR=4.01, P<0.001) than in Ethiopia, Burundi (OR=1.11, P<0.001) than in Kenya and Kenya (OR=3.62, P<0.001) than in Ethiopia. Similarly, more acceptance attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS was observed among women in Burundi (OR=3.39, P<0.001) than in Ethiopia, Burundi (OR=1.93, P<0.001) than in Kenya and Kenya (OR=1.75, P<0.001) than in Ethiopia.
Conclusion: The level of comprehensive knowledge and acceptance attitude varied significantly among women of the three countries, though associate variables were similar. Despite awareness of the disease, respondents lacked comprehensive knowledge on HIV/AIDS and acceptance attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS hence education and communication activities on HIV/AIDS are recommended.
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