Evaluating women’s knowledge on reproductive health/sexual behavior and risk of HIV infection

5^th International Conference on HIV/AIDS, STDs and STIs

November 13-14, 2017 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Foroughi M, Tayeri K, Bayat Jozani Z, Golchehregan H, Rostam Afshar Z, Ahsani Nasab S, Hassanahangari A, Haj Abdolbaghi M and Elizee M

Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, USA
Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J AIDS Clin Res

Abstract :

Introduction: Globally, the HIV infection rate in women has been trending down around the world but that is not the case in Iran where the number of newly HIV infected women has been increasing. Changes in HIV transmission routs from needle sharing to sexual transmission in Iran increases the need for better education of women on the prevention of HIVMethods: We recruited 250 women who have attended behavioral clinics or shelters in Tehran. We used a standardized questionnaire, which asked about demographics, sexual partner and knowledge about HIV/STDs. Results: The median age of our group surveyed was 40. 82% were married and among them 16% were married but lived alone. Among the total 250 surveyed, 56% (140) were sexually active in the last 30 days, 19.2% (48) had a history of a one-night stand and 2.4% had more than one sexual partner. 212 people answered questions about condom use, 60% (127) of them did not use condoms at all. Regarding knowledge about signs and symptoms related to STDs, we retrieved answers from 229 cases. 63% believe abdominal pain have no relationship to STDs. Also 44%, 43%, 37%, 40% believed that dyspareunia, dysuria, malodorous vaginal discharge and change in color of vaginal discharge, respectively, are not linked to STDs. This means that the knowledge is only about 50%. 13% who presented with these symptoms in the past 30 days have not sought medical evaluation. We need to emphasize the use of condoms among the male population but we faced with a challenge to do so because it goes against the government�s campaign of pronatalism. Improving the knowledge of protected sex should start from the teenage years and at school to reach maximum STD prevention planning. Most women in our study did not know about healthy sexual lifestyles and this shows the need for sexual health education before marriage or even in schools.

Biography :

Foroughi M has completed her graduation from Medical School at the Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2011 and obtained a special Doctorate of Research at TUMS in 2014. She worked at the Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS (IRCHA) as a Medical Researcher and Physician from 2009 and has 15 publications. She is now working as a Research Fellow at Aventura Hospital in Florida.