Background

HIV has reduced life expectancy by more than 20 years, slowed economic growth, and deepened household poverty, and many women in the rural areas still lack complete information on how to avoid exposure to the infection.

Method

A Cross sectional study was carried out among 167 married women in the age group of 15-45 years during the month of July and August 2009 in the Rural Health Training centre of the Community Medicine department. A modified National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) questionnaire was used to collect the data and was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11.5.

Results

Majority of the women belonged to the age group of 21 -30 years (73.7%). About 67% of them were housewives. Over 80% of the women knew about modes of transmission of HIV. Only 30% of the women were aware that HIV infection can also be present in healthy looking persons whereas 62.5% of them were unsure regarding this matter. Approximately 87(54%) respondents were aware of the anti-retroviral drugs. Only 14% of the women had positive attitudes towards HIV positive people.

Conclusion

Misconceptions about HIV/AIDS existed although level of awareness about the infection was acceptable among the study population. This gap in the knowledge suggests the need for better awareness campaigns targeting rural women.