AEGiS-14IAC: A survey on awarness, attitudes and practices concerning hiv/aids among a remote rural population of the centre province in Cameroon.

14th International AIDS Conference

Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

A survey on awarness, attitudes and practices concerning hiv/aids among a remote rural population of the centre province in Cameroon.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. G12691)

Azinyui HA, Sielenou I, Maloume M, Bamba JS, Ngone IH, Guedel O
Medical student (7th year) and President of Cameroon Health FORUM (CAHFO), Yaounde, Cameroon

BACKGROUND: In cameroon, most NGOs for fight against HIV/AIDS are concentrated in big cities, leaving aside rural areas, wich most of the time serve as shelters for AIDS patients from cities. Due to this fact, CAHFO initiated a project to tackle the spread of AIDS towards rural areas. This study was to apraise the villagers knwoledge on HIV/AIDS in order to implement an adequate strategy of controling it in their milieu. METHODS : We invited in August 2001 the population of OBO village (180 km from Yaounde) and its neighboring villages to participate in a survey aiming at accessing the awarness of villagers concerning HIV/AIDS. There was no refusal. A sampling of all subjects agreeing to participate in the survey was done and data collected were analyse using EPI INFO 6.04 software.

RESULTS: A total of 300 subjects were recruited and the analysis were as follow: 86% of subjects had already heard about HIV/AIDS; 20% of the sample declared that AIDS is a mystical illness and 25% only do believed at its existence in thier village. Sexual ntercourse was most recognise (48%) as HIV/AIDS transmission means. Condom was also most recognise as HIV/AIDS prevention method, but only 19% of subject use it during xtramarital sexual intercourse. It was also found that 65% of those who do not use condoms during extramarital sexual intercourse declared that "one is out of rich of AIDS in the village". In the other hand, 54% of subjects declared that condoms were not available in their village. Finally, 78% of the studied population did not know their serological status, but 80,5% of it were ready for a voluntary test.

CONCLUSION: inhabitants of these villages know very little about HIV/AIDS to be able to protect themselves efficiently. As such, CAHFO initiated a project for villagers peer educators training and condoms supply and hereby recommends to NGOs to also targeting rural population with their sensitisation campaigns.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Infections, Data Collection, Rural Population, HIV Seropositivity, Condoms, Attitude, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Extramarital Relations, Coitus, Cameroon, Human

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