Knowledge and attitude toward HIV/AIDS among Iranian women

Zarei, Ehsan; Khabiri, Roghayeh; Tajvar, Maryam; Nosratnejad, Shirin

doi:2018.0.0.e2018037

Original article

Epidemiology and Health 2018;e2018037.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2018037 [Accepted] Published online August 3, 2018.

Knowledge and attitude toward HIV/AIDS among Iranian women

Ehsan Zarei¹, Roghayeh Khabiri^2,3, Maryam Tajvar⁴, Shirin Nosratnejad²

¹Department of Public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
²Tabriz Health Service Management Research Centre, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
³National Institute of Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
⁴Department of Health Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Correspondence Roghayeh Khabiri ,Tel: +9841 33346243 , Fax: +98-41-33346243, Email: rkhabiri@razi.tums.ac.ir

Received: June 29, 2018 Accepted after revision: August 3, 2018

Abstract

Objectives:
This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of Iranian women on HIV/AIDS and their accepting attitudes towards people living with HIV to identify correlated factors with their knowledge and attitude.
Method:
The data of present study were taken from a national survey titled “Iran’s Multiple Indicator Demographic and Health Survey” conducted in 2015. In total, 42,630 women aged 15-49 years were sampled through multi-stage stratified cluster random method and interviewed. Association between socio-demographic characteristics of participants with their knowledge and attitude was examined using multiple logistic regression analysis.
Results:
The majority (79%) of Iranian women had heard about HIV/AIDS, but only 19% had comprehensive knowledge. In addition, only 15% of women had accepting attitudes toward HIV people. Being older, married, high educated and wealthier was associated with having more comprehensive knowledge on HIV/AIDS and living in urban areas was associated with having more positive attitudes toward HIV people.
Conclusion:
Relatively poor knowledge of Iranian women and their low accepting attitudes toward people living with HIV highlights the essentiality of developing required policies and interventions to overcome this issue, which is a basis for further prevention of HIV/AIDS in the country.

Keywords: Attitude; Knowledge; Sexual Health; HIV /AIDS; Iran