Background
HIV/AIDS continues to be
a serious challenge to public health and human rights in the new millennium. The
objective of this survey was to identify the correlation between
socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge, attitudes and practices of
mothers with preschool children, and their attitude towards whether a
HIV-positive female teacher should be allowed to continue teaching in school.
Method
This survey was
additional study analysis of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in
the Republic of Serbia conducted in the period November–December 2010 following
the UNICEF methodology. Women deemed eligible for the survey were those who had
children under five, had never lost a child, were not pregnant at the time of
inquiry and who had a clear attitude (“yes” or “no”) towards whether a
HIV-positive female teacher should be allowed to continue teaching in school.
The criteria were met by 2309 out of 2992 interviewed women. Pearson chi-square
and t-test
were used to analyse the differences in respondents’ attitude towards whether a
HIV-positive female teacher should be allowed to continue teaching in school.
Variables that were significantly associated with the dependent variable (p < 0.05) were entered into a
multiple logistic regression model.
Results
The respondents who were
more likely to think that a HIV positive teacher should not be allowed to teach
in school were those: who did not know that a healthy-looking person can be
HIV-positive (OR = 1.84; 95 % CI = 1.19–2.83), who would not buy (OR = 29.90;
95 % CI = 22.52–39.71) or did not know/were not sure (OR = 2.21; 95 %
CI = 1.46–3.33) whether they would buy vegetables from a HIV-positive vendor
and women who did not know/were not sure (OR = 2.97; 95 % CI = 1.64–5.39)
whether they would take care of a family member sick with AIDS in their own
home.
Conclusion
Misconceptions about HIV
transmission represent a major barrier to combating HIV/AIDS epidemic and
HIV/AIDS-related stigma. It is, therefore, necessary to continue education and
raising awareness of human rights both among the population living with HIV and
the general population.
Full article at: http://goo.gl/v03gNo
By: 
Milena Santric-Milicevic, Momcilo Mirkovic, Svetlana Karic, and Ivan Soldatovic
Milena Santric-Milicevic, Momcilo Mirkovic, Svetlana Karic, and Ivan Soldatovic
Institute of
Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Department for
Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pristina - Kosovska
Mitrovica, Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia
Preschool Teacher
Training College, Sabac, Serbia
Institute of
Medical Statistics and Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of
Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Zorica Terzic-Supic, Phone: +381 11 2643 830, Email: sr.ca.gb.dem@cipus-cizret.aciroz.
Corresponding
author.
More at: https://twitter.com/hiv_insight
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