Russom Teshome Welday
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Tongji Medical College, Wuhan China
Title: Knowledge and Attitude of HIV/AIDS Among women 15-49 years old of Three East African Countries Comparison study
Biography
Biography: Russom Teshome Welday
Abstract
Background: women living in sub-Saharan Africa are at great risk of HIV/AIDS. Gender inequalities, inadequate knowledge and negative attitude towards the disease are the major barriers to prevent spread of HIV/AIDS. Thus, the aim of the study was to assess and compare HIV/AIDS related knowledge and attitude of women age 15-49 years old among three East African countries. Methods: Data was taken from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in three East African Countries namely Burundi, Ethiopia and Kenya. Data was analyzed using multivariate logistic regression, taking p-values less than 0.05 as significant. All analyses were done using Predictive Analysis Software (SPSS version 21). Result: Almost all three counties of east Africa were heard about HIV/AIDS before survey. Respondents comprehensive knowledge was 77.2% of in Burundi and 63.6% in Kenya. Only 41.6% of the women from Ethiopia had adequate knowledge. Positive attitude was 67.3% of women from Burundi followed by 54.7% from Kenya and 39.7% from Ethiopia. Upon comparison of knowledge through multivariate analysis, women from Kenya (AOR=1.61, 95%CI=1.50-1.72, p-value=0.000) were more knowledgeable than Ethiopia. Similarly Burundians have 4.89 times more (AOR=4.89, 95%CI=4.57-5.24, p-value=0.000) knowledge than Ethiopian women. Women from Kenya had more positive attitude (AOR=1.29, 95%CI=1.21-1.37, p-value=0.000) towards HIV/AIDS than Ethiopians and, in contrast, women from Burundi had more positive attitude (AOR=2.58, 95%CI=2.38-2.75, p-value=0.000) than Kenyans. Conclusion: As result shows comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS was above average in women from Burundi and Kenya, while for Ethiopian respondents was below average. Similarly for Attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS respondents from Ethiopia had more negative attitude than women from Burundi and Kenya. Women with no education and living in rural areas have inadequate knowledge and negative attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS in all three East African Countries.