Awareness About HIV/AIDS Among Pregnant Women Attending PPTCT Centre RIMS, Ranchi, Jharkhand

Background: HIV/AIDS is one of the most dreaded entity that modern medicine has ever had to tackle. Heterosexual route of HIV transmission is much more common than any other route in India. Women are not only at higher risk of acquiring HIV infection, but they have got a unique role in transmission of HIV infection to children. The prevention of HIV infection is more important, therefore awareness of the various aspect of HIV deserve the ultimate important from the strategic point of view. Objectives: 1) To assess awareness about HIV/AIDS among pregnant women. 2) To find association between sociodemographic variables and awareness about HIV/AIDS among pregnant women. Material and Methods: A hospital based, cross sectional study conducted at PPTCT centre, RIMS, Ranchi from July 2013 to December 2013. Consecutive sampling method was adopted to draw the sample. Informed consent was taken from pregnant women prior to interview. Semi structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Statistical analysis: Data were entered in MS Excel. Frequency distribution and Descriptive analysis was done using SPSS software. Results: 300 pregnant women were interviewed. Majority of them were Hindu (76.3%). Most of the patients (56.3%) belong to rural area. 58.7% pregnant women heard about HIV/AIDS and 95.4% of them were aware on heterosexual route of transmission. Ethnicity, area of residence, education and pregnancy order of pregnant women were significantly related with awareness about HIV/AIDS. Mass media was main source of information for 81.2% of aware pregnant women. Conclusion: Awareness about HIV/AIDS among pregnant women was not very satisfactory in the present study.