AN EPIDEMIC OF APPREHENSION - QUESTIONS ABOUT HIV AIDS TO AN EAST-AFRICAN NEWSPAPER HEALTH ADVICE COLUMN/

While AIDS awareness is almost universal in Uganda, cultural values di scourage open discussion of sexual behaviour. Thus many questions rema in unasked, especially in public. This study managed to analyse some o f these queries by examining 1252 letters written spontaneously to a n ewspaper health advice column: of the letters, move than 325 included specific questions about HIV/AIDS. Being written, the questions includ e topics too embarrassing or stigmatized to voice in a spoken forum. T he most common underlying emotions in the letters about HIV/AIDS were apprehension and anxiety. Many of the letters expressed, directly or i ndirectly, that people feel they cannot control their lives and cannot effectively protect themselves or their families fi om the threat of AIDS. Health education information about HIV/AIDS has been interpreted through an emotional filter of fear, vulnerability and distrust. Writ ers often turned to informal networks of peers, friends and relatives for confirmation of information about HIV/AIDS. However, this 'common knowledge' seemed frequently to serve as an obstacle to understanding and change rather than a source of support. People wrote that they fea red transmission of HIV through unlikely and unavoidable daily activit ies such as eating. Fear magnified a wide range of common and persiste nt symptoms (rashes, coughs, fevers, sore throats) into the feared dia gnosis of AIDS. Accurate information is vital and necessary, but infor mation alone will not offset emotional vulnerability or anxiety. Peopl e also need to have their fears acknowledged and addressed in a credib le way.