Perception of HIV/AIDS: The taboo persists among tunisian women

Abdel Aziz Hali

Description

Perception of HIV / AIDS - Report MICS4: The taboo persists among tunisian women 79% of the surveyed would prefer to keep secret positive HIV test of a family member "AIDS is transmitted through semen and blood. Prevention is passed through the mouth, eyes and ears. Solidarity is transmitted through the heart "said Philippe Geluck to show the importance of prevention and solidarity against this evil that plagues mankind for decades. It is in this perspective that the final report of 207 pages from the survey MICS (MICS4 -2011- 2012) devoted a whole chapter on indicators of this scourge in our walls. Recall that this study, conducted by the National Statistics Institute (NSI), with support from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the financial contribution of the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency (UNFPA) and the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tunisia has affected 9,600 households to collect estimates on a large number of indicators on the situation of children under 5 years and women aged 15-49 years at national level. The sampling frame was stratified initially into 9 regions ( Greater Tunis , North East , North West, Central East governorates of Kairouan, Sidi Bouzid and Kasserine, Southeast, Southwest ) and in a second time according to the area of residence ( urban or rural) .

Informations

• Publié par: Abdel-Aziz-Hali
• Publié le: 10 mars 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 203
• Langue: English

Extrait

Perception of HIV / AIDS - Report MICS4:

The taboo persists among tunisian women

79% of the surveyed would prefer to keep secret positive HIV test of a family member

"AIDS is transmitted through semen and blood. Prevention is passed through the mouth, eyes and ears. Solidarity is transmitted through the heart"said Philippe Geluck to show the importance of prevention and solidarity against this evil that plagues mankind for decades. It is in this perspective that the final report of 207 pages from the survey MICS (MICS4 -2011- 2012) devoted a whole chapter on indicators of this scourge in our walls. Recall that this study, conducted by the National Statistics Institute (NSI), with support from the United Nation Children' Fund(UNICEF) and the financial contribution of thUnite Nations Populatio Fundi ainternationa developmen agenc(UNFPA) and the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tunisia has affected 9,600 households to collect estimates on a large number of indicators on the situation of children under 5 years and women aged 15-49 years at national level. The sampling frame was stratified initially into 9 regions ( Greater Tunis , North East , North West, Central East governorates of Kairouan, Sidi Bouzid and Kasserine, Southeast, Southwest ) and in a second time according to the area of residence ( urban or rural) . In Tunisia , where the HIV / AIDS for several years was characterized by its low prevalence and low activity today , several studies including that of MICS4 say that " there has been a shift to a type epidemic concentrated, with a relatively high prevalence , particularly among men who have sex with men. " In addition, according to several experts, the HIV epidemic in Tunisia is concentrated type, which involves targeting people from the groups most at risk for this infection. Despite this, the annual number of new cases reported in Tunisia remained stable at around 70, while cases of mother to child transmission are around 4.

Im p ro vedkn o w ledg ein the North an du rb a nen viro n m en t

The MICS4 survey indicates that more than three out of four women (that is to say 83.6 %) say they have heard of AIDS. However, the fairer sex who knows both how to prevent HIV transmission is only 51.5 %.

In terms of the main ways of preventing HIV transmission, 68.5% of women surveyed in this study "know that you need a faithful, uninfected sexual partner" and 56.6 % reported that it is necessary to use a condom in a systematic manner for each sex. Furthermore, «56% of women experience at least one means of prevention , nearly a third of them ( 32%) do not know any of the means of prevention and 19% have a thorough knowledge on the subject ," says the report MICS4 . The demographic factor also plays an important role in the acquisition of knowledge. The MICS4 reveals that residents of the District of Tunis and the North East are more aware (almost 25%) than those parts of the Midwest and South «that the proportion of correct knowledge of prevention methods is less 15% (8% to Sidi Bouzid) ". This indicator is significantly higher in urban areas: 22% of women against 11% in rural areas.

This level of detailed knowledge is also dependent on the level of life of the woman questioned. Thus, women from wealthier backgrounds are more informed than those from the poorest 31% against only 6 %.

" Disparities in -depth knowledge are even more pronounced between women's education levels and among women of higher education, 37 % have a thorough knowledge , whereas this proportion is only 4 % of women with no schooling , " the report says.

Between tolerance and mistrust

For what attitude to adopt towards people living with HIV / AIDS, 95% of women interviewed expressed their willingness to adopt a benevolent attitude towards these people (all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds together).

Side discriminatory attitude, 79% of women surveyed wanted to keep secret the status of a member of the HIV-infected family. Meanwhile, 88 % of women were willing to take care in the home of a member of the carrier of the AIDS virus family against by only 46 % of women were willing to buy fresh vegetables from a dealer or from a vendor carrier AIDS virus. On the other hand, two out of three women (66%) believe that teacher living with HIV but is not sick should be allowed to continue teaching.

Regarding differences in caring attitudes between urban and rural one, the study highlights that the latter are more pronounced «at the contact with external HIV-positive person in the family . Thus, the frequency of benevolent attitude towards people living with HIV increases with the level of education of women, from 5% for women with no schooling to 10% for those at university level. On the other hand, this frequency is relatively higher among women from the richest ' households.

Test: not enough

Among the women surveyed, 25 % had knowledge of where you can perform a test. Only 2% of women said they have already done this kind of test and only 1% of women interviewed said they were both tested and received the test result.

«Among women who gave birth in the two years preceding the survey, only 3% were counseled for HIV, while 1% of these women received the test result after it was offered to them and practiced. These low levels of use of screening are explained by the newness of the establishment of counseling centers and anonymous and voluntary testing, "says the MICS4.

Abdel Aziz HALI

Article published on 24-12-2013 at the daily Newspaper “La Presse de Tunisie” (Tunisia)