Low awareness about AIDS/HIV in Aurangabad

Aurangabad, Maharashtra, July 19: Around 44 per cent doctors in Aurangabad district feel that they could contract HIV/AIDS from their patients while treating them.

Twenty-two per cent of the general population in the district are still unaware that HIV/AIDS are life threatening.

This and several other startling facts about the extent of HIV/AIDs awareness among the city's population, particularly doctors, have come to the fore during a survey conducted in the disrict by Wockhardt-Harvard Medical International's AIDs Education and Research Foundation (WHARF). Around 50 per cent of the respondents felt that the disease is curable.

The research was conducted between March and April this year among 11,000 individuals in rural and urban Aurangabad with a view to knowing the level of awareness, and myths and misconceptions about HIV/AIDs among doctors and general population at large. The findings of the survey were released at a press conference here yesterday.

Speaking on the occasion, WHARF president N Khorakiwala said 22 per cent of the doctors surveyed were willing to see HIV positive patients during their practice. But, 26 per cent of the doctors felt that they should charge extra money for treating People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLHA). About 38 per cent of the clinicians felt that the PLHA should be segregated.

With regards to the route of transmission, about 38 per cent of the general population believed HIV cannot be transmitted through the sexual route. Around 25 per cent of them felt HIV can not be transmitted by a pregnant HIV positive mother to her unborn child -- a misconception which can lead to high risk behaviour, Ms Khorakiwala pointed out.

Almost 40 per cent of the people feel that HIV can spread through mosquito bites. A whopping 55 per cent of the respondents felt that sharing food with HIV positive people could cause transmission of the disease, whereas 19 per cent of the people do not have any information regarding the spread of HIV, she added.

WHARF, in association with a local institution -- Jan Shakti Sansthan -- has decided to conduct a two-day convention in Aurangabad on November 17 and 18, 2007 so as to create awareness and train the local doctors in this regard, Ms Khorakiwala said.

UNI