Awareness of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) among the Pregnant Women of Rural areas of Puducherry, India
V. Vijayalakshmi1, B. Nagaraj2
1V.Vijayalakshmi, Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences and Languages, a sincere learner, qualified doctorate in Sociology (PhD Sociology) from Pondicherry Central.
2B.Nagaraj, Graduated MBA in the area of marketing and has both teaching and industry experience in banking and marketing.
Manuscript received on 22 August 2019. | Revised Manuscript received on 02 September 2019. | Manuscript published on 30 September 2019. | PP: 2341-2345 | Volume-8 Issue-11, September 2019. | Retrieval Number: I8961078919/2019©BEIESP | DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.I8961.0981119
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: As according to the statistics of WHO, worldwide almost 50% of newly infected HIV infected adults in 2003 were women. In India, among all states, in 13 states, only 1 in 6 women had heard about HIV/AIDS and also their knowledge about transmission and prevention was poor. Further rural, less educated, poor women were least likely to be AIDS aware. The aim of the study is to investigate the awareness of transmission of HIV/AIDS and on the knowledge about the preventive measures among the pregnant women consulting the gynecology department in the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute in Puducherry. The present study concentrated both the inpatient and outpatient pregnant women who visits the gynecology department and the analysis was based on the information collected through personal interviews and questionnaires structured to assess the awareness of pregnant women about HIV/AIDS, modes of transmission, awareness on preventive methods, source of information and their attitude towards the People living with HIV/AIDS. All respondents were aware of the dreadful disease still there were much misconception about the modes of transmission and the preventive mesures. High majority of respondents (63.3%) were aware about the disease through Television and expressed that media has a major role in creating awareness among the public. The level of awareness and knowledge of HIV/AIDS among pregnant women seems to be superficial; more education and knowledge about modes of transmission and preventive measures is needed.
Keywords: Attitudes, literacy, awareness, intervention programmes
Scope of the Article: Human Computer Interactions