Evaluating knowledge about HIV and discriminatory attitudes among Pakistani women of reproductive age using 2017–18 Demographic Health Survey data

Abstract

A prominent issue associated with HIV is the stigma around it owing to a lack of awareness. This study aimed to find the association between HIV and AIDS-related knowledge and discriminatory attitudes amongst Pakistani women of reproductive age using the 2017–18 Pakistani Demographic Health Survey (PDHS) data. We analyzed a sample of 3381 Pakistani women of reproductive age using ordinal logistic regression for complex survey data. Two composite variables were created using the HIV module to denote the respondents’ HIV-related knowledge and their attitude toward people living with HIV (PLHIV) and calculated using a scoring method. Additional variables included the respondents’ age, education level, socioeconomic status, residential setting, and HIV testing history. More than half (58.8%) of the respondents presented with a negative attitude toward PLHIV and 64.3% of the respondents had poor knowledge regarding the illness. In the multivariable analysis, knowledge about HIV and level of education reported significant associations with discriminatory attitudes. We concluded that the odds of individuals living in a rural setting and hailing from a low socioeconomic background presenting with a negative attitude towards PLHIV were 2.52 times (95% CI 1.07–5.89) higher as compared to those living in an urban setting from a high socioeconomic background.

Examining the Association of Sexual Health Knowledge and Sexual Attitude of Filipino College Students

“…This is affirmed by the study of Estifanos et al (2021), which emphasized that respondents who had a sufficient and thorough understanding of HIV/AIDS were more likely than their counterparts to have a positive acceptance attitude towards HIV/AIDS in general and personal. In addition, prevalence of HIV/AIDS is found to be significantly higher among those who are unaware of the possible routes of transmission (Sameen et al, 2023). Insufficient knowledge can lead to unjustified fear when interacting with people who are HIV/AIDS positive, which exacerbates stigma, claim Alwafi et al (2018).…”