Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ASCO Annual Meeting 2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Keep up to date with all the top stories and latest evidence with our hub page, including official congress videos and expert takeaways.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Human Immunodeficiency Virus | Research article

Determinants of overall knowledge of and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS transmission among ever-married women in Pakistan: evidence from the Demographic and Health Survey 2012–13

Authors: Sarosh Iqbal, Sidra Maqsood, Asma Zafar, Rubeena Zakar, Muhammad Zakria Zakar, Florian Fischer

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2019

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

HIV/AIDS has emerged as a serious public health issue across the globe, and particularly in developing countries. Comprehensive knowledge and positive attitudes are cornerstones for the prevention, control and treatment of HIV/AIDS. However, there are various misconceptions associated with HIV/AIDS transmission, which lead to negative attitudes towards people living with AIDS. The present study aims to explore the effects of these determinants, related to socio-demographic characteristics and autonomy, on women’s overall knowledge and attitudes regarding HIV/AIDS in Pakistan.

Methods

Secondary data analysis was carried out using the national representative dataset of the 2012–13 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey. A series of questions related to HIV/AIDS was asked of 13,558 ever-married women aged 15–49 years to assess respondents’ knowledge regarding modes of HIV/AIDS transmission and preventative measures, as well as their attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were used to identify associations with socio-demographic and autonomy-related variables. Furthermore, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association between multiple factors and overall HIV/AIDS knowledge as well as attitudes towards people living with AIDS.

Results

The results show that only 42% of Pakistani women have heard about HIV/AIDS. Amongst these women, the majority (68%) have good overall knowledge of HIV/AIDS and more than 55% have positive attitudes towards people living with AIDS. Furthermore, women residing in urban areas, having at least secondary-level education, with high autonomy, belonging to the richest wealth quintile and having exposure to mass media had high overall knowledge and positive attitudes towards people living with AIDS.

Conclusion

The findings of this research support the relevance of women’s autonomy, education and exposure to mass media, particularly in rural areas of Pakistan, to address the lack of knowledge and eliminate various myths and stigmatisation of people living with HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, it reveals a need to increase focused and targeted interventions to enhance women’s knowledge and positive attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS. In this regard, the media can play a proactive role to gauge wider audience in creating awareness and eradicating the myths and misconceptions regarding HIV/AIDS.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
National AIDS Control Programme (NACP). Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination. Government of Pakistan. NACP; 2018. Available at http://​www.​nacp.​gov.​pk.
7.
National AIDS Control Programme. Integrated Biological & Behavioral Surveillance in Pakistan 2016–17: 2nd Generation HIV Surveillance in Pakistan Round-5. NACP; April, 2017.
8.
Alonzo AA, Reynolds NR. Stigma, HIV and AIDS: an exploration and elaboration of a stigma trajectory. Soc Sci Med. 1995;41(3):303–15.CrossRef
9.
10.
Farid R, Choudhry AJ. Knowledge about HIV/AIDS infection among female college students. Europe PubMed Central. 2003;13(3):135–7.
11.
Maswanya E, Moji K, Aoyagi K, Yahata Y, Kusano Y, Nagata K, Izumi T. Knowledge and attitudes towards AIDS among female college students in Nagasaki. Jpn Health Educ Res. 2000;15(1):5–11.
12.
13.
Ekstrand ML, Bharat S, Ramakrishna J, Heylen E. Blame, symbolic stigma and HIV misconceptions are associated with support for coercive measures in urban India. AIDS Behav. 2012;16(3):700–10.CrossRef
14.
Steward WT, Herek GM, Ramakrishna J, Bharat S, Chandy S, Wrubel J, Ekstrand ML. HIV-related stigma: adapting a theoretical framework for use in India. Soc Sci Med. 2008;67(8):1225–35.CrossRef
15.
Hazarika I. Knowledge, attitude, beliefs and practices in HIV/AIDS in India: identifying the gender and rural–urban differences. Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2010;3(10):821–7.CrossRef
16.
Khan R, Bilal A, Siddiqui SH. Knowledge about HIV and discriminatory attitudes toward people living with HIV in Pakistan: DHS WORKING PAPERS, No. 134. Rockville: ICF; 2017.
17.
Saad BM, Tan PL, Subramaniam G. Implication of HIV/AIDS knowledge on quality of life of young women in Malaysia. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2015;202:218–26.CrossRef
18.
EBSCHO. Fighting AIDS by Empowering Women and Girls. EBSCHO Publishing. IAS 2013. HIV and AIDS in Malaysia; 2013.
19.
Altaf A, Shah SA, & Memon A. Follow up study to assess and evaluate knowledge, attitude and high risk behaviors and prevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis among IDUs at burns road DIC, Karachi. External report submitted to UNODC. 2003.
20.
Khan MS, Unemo M, Zaman S, Lundborg CSHIV. STI, prevalence and risk behaviours among women selling sex in Lahore, Pakistan. BMC Infect Dis. 2011;11(1):119.CrossRef
21.
Zafar T, Brahmbhat H, Imam G. & Hassan Su. & Strathdee SA. HIV knowledge and risk behaviours among Pakistani and afghan drug users in Quetta Pakistan. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. 2003;32(4):394–8.CrossRef
22.
Raza MH, Ikram N, Saeed N, Waheed U, Kamran M, Iqbai R, Bakar MA. HIV/AIDS and syphilis screening among high risk groups. Journal of Rawalpindi Medical College (JRMC). 2015;19(1):11–4.
23.
Rehan M, Waheed U, Sarwar M, Arshad M, Satti HS, Zaheer HA. Knowledge, attitude, practices and awareness regarding HIV/AIDS among university students of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Annals of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. 2016;12(2):86–9.
24.
Zafar M, Nisar N, Kadir M, Fatmi Z, Ahmed Z, Knowledge SK. Attitude and practices regarding HIV/AIDS among adult fishermen in coastal areas of Karachi. BMC Public Health. 2014;10(14):437.CrossRef
25.
Khan MS, Unemo M, Zaman S, Lundborg CS. Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding HIV/AIDS and STIs among health care providers in Lahore, Pakistan. Journal of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad. 2009;21(4):1–6.
26.
Nasir JA, Imran M, Zaidi SAA. HIV/AIDS awareness in Pakistan: binary logistic regression analysis of PDHS-2012-13. Professional Med J. 2015;22(5):603–9.
27.
UNAIDS. Global AIDS Monitoring 2018: Indicators for monitoring the 2016 United Nations political declaration on ending AIDS. Geneva: UNAIDS; 2017.
28.
Bandura A. Health promotion by social cognitive means. Health Educ Behav. 2004;31(2):143–64.CrossRef
29.
Ayiga N, Nambooze H, Nalugo S, Kaye D, Katamba A. The impact of HIV/AIDS stigma on HIV counseling and testing in a high HIV prevalence population in Uganda. Afr Health Sci. 2013;13(2):278–86.PubMedPubMedCentral
30.
DiClemente RJ, Peterson JL. Preventing AIDS: theories and methods of behavioral interventions. New York: Springer; 1994.
31.
Munro S, Lewin S, Swart T, Volmink J. A review of health behaviour theories: how useful are these for developing interventions to promote long-term medication adherence for TB and HIV/AIDS? BMC Public Health. 2007;7(1):104.CrossRef
32.
Fisher JD, Fisher WA. Changing AIDS risk behavior. Psychol Bull. 1992;111(3):455–74.CrossRef
33.
Fisher JD, Fisher WA. Theoretical approaches to individual level change in HIV risk behavior. In: Peterson JL, DiClemente RJ, editors. Handbook of HIV Prevention. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum; 2000.
34.
Fisher JD, Fisher WA, Misovich SJ, Bryan AD. Information, motivation, behavioral skills model based HIV risk behavior change intervention for inner-city high school youth. Health Psychol. 2002;21(2):177–86.CrossRef
35.
Hounton SH, Carabin H, Henderson NJ. Towards an understanding of barriers to condom use in rural Benin using the health belief model: a cross sectional survey. BMC Public Health. 2005;5(1):8.CrossRef
36.
Anderson ES, Wagstaff DA, Heckman TG, Winett RA, Roffman RA, Solomon LJ, Cargill V, Kelly JA, Sikkema KJ. Information-motivation behavioral skills (IMB) model: testing direct and mediated treatment effects on condom use among women in low-income housing. Ann Behav Med. 2006;31(1):70–9.CrossRef
37.
Kalichman SC, Cain D, Weinhardt L, Benotsch E, Presser K, Zweben A, Bjodstrup B, Swain GR. Experimental components analysis of brief theory-based HIV/AIDS risk-reduction counseling for sexually transmitted infection patients. Health Psychol. 2005;24(2):198–208.CrossRef
38.
39.
National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS). Pakistan demographic and health survey (PDHS) 2012-13. Macro international Inc., Maryland. In: USA; 2013.
40.
Rirash F. The association between women’s autonomy and women’s HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes in Ethiopia. Electronic thesis and dissertation repository. Paper no. 1992. 2014.
41.
Musonera A, Heshmati A. Measuring women’s empowerment in Rwanda. East Africa research Papers in economics and finance. EARP-EF no. 2016: 02 Jönköping international business school (JIBS). Sweden: Jönköping University; 2016.
42.
Gwatkin DR, Rutstein S, Johnson K, Suliman E, Wagstaff A, Amozou A. Socio-economic differences in health, nutrition and population within developing countries: an overview. Niger J Clin Pract. 2007;10(4):272–82.PubMed
43.
Bhagavathula AS, Bandari DK, Elnour AA, Ahmad A, Khan MU, Baraka M, Hamad F, Shehab A. A cross sectional study: the knowledge, attitude, perception, misconception and views (KAPMV) of adult family members of people living with human immune virus-HIV acquired immune deficiency syndrome-AIDS (PLWHA). Springerplus. 2015;4:769.CrossRef
44.
Farid-ul-Hasnain S, Johansson E, Krantz G. What do young adults know about the HIV/AIDS epidemic? Findings from a population based study in Karachi, Pakistan. BMC Infect Dis. 2009;9:38.CrossRef
45.
Yaya S, Bishwajit G, Danhoundo G, Shah V, Ekholuenetale M. Trends and determinants of HIV/AIDS knowledge among women in Bangladesh. BMC Public Health. 2016;16(1):812.CrossRef
46.
Corno L, de Walque D. Socioeconomic determinants of stigmatization and HIV testing in Lesotho. AIDS Care. 2013;25(Suppl 1):108–13.CrossRef
47.
Visser MJ, Makin JD, Vandormael A, Sikkema KJ, Forsyth BW. HIV/AIDS stigma in a south African community. AIDS Care. 2009;21(2):197–206.CrossRef
48.
Stephenson R. A community perspective on young people’s knowledge of HIV/AIDS in three African countries. AIDS Care. 2009;21(3):378–83.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Determinants of overall knowledge of and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS transmission among ever-married women in Pakistan: evidence from the Demographic and Health Survey 2012–13
Authors
Sarosh Iqbal
Sidra Maqsood
Asma Zafar
Rubeena Zakar
Muhammad Zakria Zakar
Florian Fischer
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7124-3

Other articles of this Issue 1/2019

BMC Public Health 1/2019 Go to the issue

Research article

Association between antenatal care follow-up and institutional delivery service utilization: analysis of 2016 Ethiopia demographic and health survey

Research article

The Work Stress Questionnaire (WSQ) – reliability and face validity among male workers

Study protocol

Increasing awareness of food-choking and nutrition in children through education of caregivers: the CHOP community intervention trial study protocol

Research article

Rugby Fans in Training New Zealand (RUFIT-NZ): a pilot randomized controlled trial of a healthy lifestyle program for overweight men delivered through professional rugby clubs in New Zealand

Research article

The characteristics of mixing patterns of sexual dyads and factors correlated with condomless anal intercourse among men who have sex with men in Guangzhou, China

Study protocol

Evaluation of the mindfulness-augmented “Trampoline” programme – a German prevention programme for children from substance-involved families tested in a cluster-randomised trial