Assessing HIV/AIDS Awareness and the Factors Influencing It in a High HIV Prevalence District: Insights From a Large-Scale Community Survey Among the Rural Population

Introduction HIV/AIDS is one of the complex diseases of today's world, with 39 million people living with HIV (PLHIV). India has the second largest number (2.4 million) of PLHIV/AIDS. Chittoor is a district with a high prevalence (0.5%) of HIV in the state of Andhra Pradesh. An important component of the HIV control program is the awareness among people about HIV. Objectives The objectives of this study are to assess knowledge of HIV/AIDS among the general population in the rural community and to identify the factors associated with knowledge of HIV among them. Materials and methods This is a large community-based cross-sectional study done in the rural community of Chittoor district, India, between December 2022 and July 2023. Using a cluster sampling technique, 4458 participants were included in the study. After obtaining informed consent, a face-to-face personal interview was conducted at their household using a validated HIV Knowledge Questionnaire (HIV-KQ-18). Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, version 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results Among the 4458 participants, 66.8% exhibited poor knowledge, 28.7% had moderate knowledge, and 4.5% possessed good knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Notably, factors such as age, gender, education, marital status, occupation, and socioeconomic status showed significant associations with HIV/AIDS knowledge (p-value < 0.05). It was concerning that only one-fifth of the participants had attended at least one awareness session on HIV/AIDS, and an alarming three-fourths had never engaged in discussions about HIV/AIDS with anyone. This highlights a substantial gap in awareness and communication surrounding HIV/AIDS within the rural community. Conclusion The level of awareness regarding HIV/AIDS in rural communities is insufficient. To address this gap, there is a pressing need for innovative and comprehensive dissemination of scientific information specifically tailored for the rural population. By providing better education and knowledge, we can effectively reduce the transmission of HIV within these communities and contribute to global efforts in combating this pandemic.