Awareness and knowledge about HIV/AIDS among women of reproductive age in Tajikistan

ABSTRACT

Using data from the 2012 and 2017 Tajikistan Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), this research explores the trends and determinants of HIV/AIDS awareness and knowledge among women of reproductive age in Tajikistan across two time periods and identifies areas for improvement. The results of this research indicate that nearly four in ten women had not heard of HIV/AIDS before participating in the DHS. Moreover, between 2012 and 2017, the level of HIV/AIDS awareness among women decreased from 63% to 57%. Although the level of HIV knowledge increased from 21% in 2012–33% in 2017, many women still lack knowledge about the modes of HIV transmission and effective prevention methods. Considering that the HIV epidemic is currently increasing in Tajikistan, HIV/AIDS prevention interventions are urgently needed that include outreach efforts targeting younger women and those from rural areas and lower socioeconomic groups.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV/AIDS awareness
• HIV knowledge
• Tajikistan
• women

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the DHS Program for granting access to the Tajikistan DHS data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Availability of data

All data used in this research are available to download from the DHS Program (https://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm). Permission from the DHS Program is required to access the data.

ORCID

Salima Kasymova http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5910-3317