Level of the knowledge about the HIV/AIDS in a risk group.

Abstract

HIV/AIDS, as a health problem, is retrieving thousands human lives around the world every year.
In Cuba , the epidemic has had a low increase thanks to the fast adoption of measures and the institution of different mechanisms to prevent the disease. Although in our country the male sex is the more affected, in the last years there has been observed a raising tendency of the infection among women. That is why we developed a transversal, descriptive study in risk women in the province of Matanzas , on January 2006. The sample was formed by 34 women having transactional sex at the moment we developed the study. They answered an individual, anonym survey with their previous assisted consent, to establish the knowledge they do not have about the HIV/AIDS and their perception degree of the risk of HIV infection. The data were stored in a database of the SPSS 10.0 program for their analysis. The results were shown in tables and graphics allowing their better comprehension. We concluded that there is not an adequate knowledge about all of the disease transmission ways, being the biggest lack of knowledge between the youngest women, the unemployed women and those with lower schooling. We also concluded the perception degree of the HIV risk is low.