HIV- and AIDS-Related Knowledge, Awareness, and Practices in Madagascar

Abstract

The prevalence of HIV in Madagascar has been slowly rising in the past decade but in 1999 was still less than 0.5%. Although this rate is low compared with the rates in many other countries including the United States (0.61%) and especially sub-Saharan African nations such as Zimbabwe (25%) and South Africa (20%) the risk factors for an epidemic are present. High rates of syphilis hepatitis B virus and other sexually transmitted diseases as well as extreme poverty suggest that many of Madagascar’s 14 million people are at risk for acquiring HIV. The AIDS Impact Model projected that HIV seroprevalence could reach 15% by 2015 if Madagascar follows the epidemic trend of countries like Kenya. We sought to determine directly whether high-risk behaviors that might lead to rising infection rates were present in this population. The aims of this study were to (1) determine a baseline level of public awareness and knowledge about HIV and AIDS and (2) ascertain the HIV and AIDS risk–related behaviors of a segment of the general population in the capital city Antananarivo. (excerpt)