Religion and protective behaviours towards AIDS in rural Senegal

Objectives: To describe the association between religion and factors relate d to sexually transmitted diseases (STD)/AIDS in a country where religious leaders were involved early in prevention. Design: A cross-sectional study conducted in a rural area in central Senega l. Methods: Questionnaire-based interviews of a random sample of 858 adults fr om the general population aged 15-59 years and in-depth interviews of Four religious leaders and 50 people. Results: Seventy-six per cent of the respondents were Muslim, 24% Catholic, 1% Animist and 0.2% Protestant. A total of 86% of men and 87% of women rep orted religion to be very important to them. Important prevention-related v ariables were inversely associated with the importance of religion. Men who considered religion to be very important were less likely to cite AIDS as a major health problem [odds ratio (OR) 0.4, P- 0.008] and were less likely to feel at risk of getting HIV (OR 0.5, P = 0.0005). Women who considered religion to be very important were less likely to report an intention to ch ange to protect themselves from AIDS (OR 0.2, P= 0.0001), less likely to re port having discussed AIDS with others (OR 0.4, P= 0.01) and much more like ly to feel at risk of getting HIV (OR 9.3, P= 10(-4)). Individuals who cons idered religion to be very important were not more likely to report intendi ng to or actually having become faithful to protect themselves from AIDS. Conclusion: These findings stress the need to intensify the involvement of religious authorities in HIV/STD prevention at the local level, (C) 2000 Li ppincott Williams & Wilkins.