HIV/STD: the women to blame? Knowledge and attitudes among STD clinic attendees in the second decade of HIV/AIDS

We aimed to determine the knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/STDs among wo men attending an STD clinic by interviewing 520 randomly selected women. Ne arly all had heard of HIV/AIDS/STDs, with posters, pamphlets and the radio being the main source of their information. The years of schooling was the only predictive factor of knowing a preventive measure of HIV. Two-thirds t hought they were at risk of contracting HIV from their regular partner. Kno wledge of the sexual habits of their male partners was low with 260 (50%) o f the women distrusting their partner. Only 52 (10%) of respondents admitte d to sex in exchange for gifts or money. in the event of a positive HIV tes t result, the perceived partner response would be to blame the woman for in troducing the infection into the relationship. After a positive HIV test re sult, only 3.5% would resort to using condoms while another 3.7% would try to pass on the disease to other people. The quality of their knowledge of t he transmission of HIV was low in spite of the fact that most respondents h ave heard of HIV/AIDS/STDs. Violence against women was expected in relation to a positive test result. There is a need for better educative effort on the modes of transmission and prevention of HIV, also in 'low risk' populat ions.