Awareness of sexually transmitted disease among women and service providers in rural Bangladesh

Abstract

Sexually transmitted disease (STD) in rural Bangladesh is currently a topic of great concern. To date, little information is available in the literature regarding its prevalence. It is now known, however, that the current level of STD awareness among the rural population with regard to modes of transmission and means of prevention is inadequate. In 1994, the MCH-FP Extension Project (Rural) of ICDDR, B surveyed 8674 married women of reproductive age (MWRA) in 4 rural thanas to examine their awareness of STDs. The association between socio-demographic and programmatic factors (variables which affect STD information availability) and awareness of STDs was examined by both bivariate and multivariate analyses. Seven focus group discussions were conducted among groups of government health and family planning workers and paramedics to assess their knowledge of STDs and attitudes about their prevention. Only 12% of the original group had even a basic understanding about STDs and how to protect themselves from them. Twenty-five per cent of the women surveyed had ever heard of either syphilis or gonorrhoea. Of these women, less than half could mention specific mechanisms involved in the transmission of these diseases. Seven per cent reported that syphilis and gonorrhoea are transmitted through sexual intercourse. Thirteen per cent reported that the infections are transmitted from spouses to their partners. Four per cent reported that STDs can be spread by having multiple sexual partners. The results of logistic regression analysis indicate that awareness of STDs was higher among relatively older women than among younger women. Awareness of STDs was most strongly and positively associated with the education of both the women and their husbands. Awareness of STDs was also found to be higher among women who were more socially mobile (e.g. those who frequent cinemas or mothers' clubs). The findings of focus group discussions indicate that family planning and health care service providers have a moderate level of STD awareness. Modes of transmission and means of prevention, however, were areas of weakness. It will, therefore, be necessary, whether to prevent a potential STD epidemic or to combat current STD prevalence, to implement culturally acceptable and affordable means of disseminating knowledge in rural areas of Bangladesh. Training of health care providers will be an essential first step.

Social determinants of awareness and behavior regarding STDs and HIV/AIDS among ever married women in Bangladesh

“…women who did not use contraception did not have enough sexual autonomy to refuse sex with an STDinfected husband/partner, as they may not be empowered to make this decision. These findings bear resemblance to the results of other studies [9,[15][16][17][18][19].…”

“…The results indicate that the level of education below secondary among both the respondents and their husbands/partners had a significant impact on the decision regarding the use contraception. women from lower-class families committed to using contraception 1.159 times more often than women from upper-class prior research in Bangladesh and other countries [9,[15][16][17][18]. Education broadens our horizons and makes it easier for us to access information on sexual and reproductive health from various communication channels, including the Internet, television, radio, print media, social media and opinion leaders.…”

“…as many as 40% of ever married women have never heard of HIV/aIDS, and only 19% have heard about it, but know nothing about any HIV prevention methods. Only 41% of women knew about one or more correct ways to prevent STDs and HIV/aIDS [15]. according to another study, 29.4% of ever married women did not have any knowledge and awareness about STDs.…”

Trends of HIV/AIDS Epidemic and Awareness Levels in Bangladesh

“…A short list of number of people living with HIV is given below. If compare the people living with HIV/AIDS by sex, we observe from figure 6 that males are more infected than females [8]. Although, awareness in males are high [16] but the prevalence among them is high compared to females.…”

“…The awareness about HIV/AIDS is very important to prevent the deadly consequence of the disease. Nowadays, the awareness in Bangladesh is rising [6,7,8] and males are more aware than females [9,10]. To understand the level and trends towards the HIV/AIDS epidemic and awareness, this research tries to illustrate some graphical representation of the level and trends of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and it's awareness in Bangladesh.…”