KOCHI, Oct 13: There is a `fact and fiction mix-up' prevailing among college-goers in the state as regards AIDS awareness. In spite of increased awareness about AIDS, there are numerous misconceptions about the killer disease.This was revealed in a recent study on the `Gender-related and rural-urban difference in knowledge and attitudes towards AIDS, sexuality and related gender issues' by the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Sciences Studies (Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology), Thiruvananthapuram.The study aimed at assessing the prevalent knowledge and attitude towards AIDS, sexuality and related issues and to examine the impact of gender and domicile factors on the knowledge of and attitude towards AIDS and sexuality.The study revealed that general awareness about AIDS was high among college students. But though all of them had heard of AIDS and most were aware of the general modes of transmission of the disease, only half the students interviewed knew that AIDS wasan incurable disease, the study said.The survey team consisting of Dr S S Lal, Dr R S Vasan, Dr Thankappan and Dr P S Sharma surveyed 625 college students in the 18-25 age group (461 girls and 164 boys) of 10 colleges in Thiruvananthapuram, five each from rural and urban areas, between January and February 1998.The awareness on sexually transmitted diseases (STD) is surprisingly low (34 per cent) among students. The same is the case with awareness on methods of prevention of STDs. The majority of the students, reveals the survey, also lacked knowledge about the symptoms of STDs and only a minority have the idea that STDs can lead to AIDS.Communication about sex and AIDS was found to be very poor inside families and within educational institutions. Nearly 40 per cent of the students gathered information about AIDS from awareness programmes. Even though the majority (80 per cent) believes that a woman can get AIDS from her husband, only 35 per cent believe that a woman can also get infected from anyother known person. While 80 per cent are aware that condoms can guard one from AIDS, only 65 per cent know that condoms can also prevent other STDs. 75 per cent are under the impression that a ban on prostitution will help control the spread of AIDS.Another interesting revelation of the study is the attitudinal linkage by individuals of AIDS with moral values. A substantial section (41 per cent) of the students associated AIDS with immoral behavior. Rural-urban differences in the concept of morality also surfaced in the survey. The majority of the rural students related the spread of AIDS to the declining moral standards in the country.Despite the tall claims of total literacy and health care and awareness in the state, 75 per cent of the students are under the impression that masturbation is harmful. Even though the majority viewed homosexuality as abnormal, 42 per cent male and 18 per cent female felt there was nothing abnormal about it.The area of domicile and gender differences seemed to haveconsiderable impact on the attitude towards AIDS and related areas of sexuality.Male and urban students stood well ahead of the fairer sex and those from rural areas in knowledge and favourable attitudes. This `gap in knowledge' calls for more awareness campaigns targeting rural women, the study suggested.The knowledge level analysis of students against a caste-wise split list also revealed that Christian students were better informed than others, thanks to the increased social interference from the community. The study also revealed that the number of Muslim students entering college was comparatively lower than from other communities.
