Knowledge and attitude of Asian men in Glasgow [UK] relating to HIV infection

The aim of this exploratory study is not only to collect the base line data on know ledge and attitude on AIDS/HIV among Asian men but also to examine the need for future health education programme on AIDS for the Asians in UK. A self administered questionnaire survey of 400 Asian males aged 17 years and above was conducted in the Glasgow [UK] city area and a number of knowledge and attitude variables were studied. The response rate was 61%. It was observed that although the level of know ledge on most common methods of transmission was quite high including homosexual contact [88.5%], heterosexual contacts [90.9%] and injecting drugs with shared needles [91.8%], the respondents were found to have a low level of knowledge on transmission of HIV through casual contacts like unwashed cups anti glasses, donating blood in UK and through sneezing and spitting. In the present study the younger age group was found to have better knowledge than their seniors in many respects. The respondents were found to have great confusion in their attitude towards people with HIV infection. The level of misconception was observed to be high in both the younger and the older age groups. The most common source of information for respondents on AIDS/HIV was from television [95%], followed by newspaper [84.3%], magazines [55.4%] and radio [43.8%]