Description:
Executive Summary:
"A multi-site survey was conducted during September through November 2003 to assess the
knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to transmission and prevention of HIV and AIDS
among general population and youths residing in seven survey sites in Myanmar. A total of
9678 individuals (4631 males and 5047 females) were interviewed. Of these, 35% were youth
aged 15-24 years. Although 91% of the population had heard about HIV and AIDS, only 35%
knew about methods of HIV prevention and barely 27% were able to correctly reject the
common misconceptions about HIV transmission. Youth, women and respondents with lowest
level of education had the lowest knowledge about HIV prevention. Less than a quarter of the
respondents were willing to buy food from an HIV-infected vendor and just half of them
expressed willingness to care for an HIV-infected relative. Only a quarter of the population
sought treatment for sexually transmitted disease (STD) symptoms; a large proportion of these
consulted a private practitioner or took self treatment and only 15% visited a government
hospital for STD treatment. About 7% of men had sex with a non-regular partner; nearly twothirds
of them had unprotected sex (only 54% of male respondents reported using condom
consistently with a commercial sex worker and 18% with a casual acquaintance). While 68%
respondents expressed the intent for voluntary confidential counseling and testing (VCCT) but
a mere 5% actually got tested and received the result.
The findings of the survey indicate the following programmatic gaps:
* Knowledge about HIV prevention is deficient
* High level of misconceptions about HIV transmission prevail
* Negative attitudes towards PLWHA are common
* Utilization of STD services is suboptimal
* High-risk sexual behaviours exist and unprotected sex is common
* VCCT needs remain unmet..."
Source/publisher:
Myanmar MInistry of Health (National Aids Control Programme)
Date of Publication:
2005-02-00
Date of entry:
2006-06-19
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English