AIDS awareness amongst school teachers in a rural area of India

One hundred and eighty-two teachers from a random selection of 15 schools in a rural area of Lucknow district of northern India were interviewed to assess their awareness and knowledge about AIDS using a pretested CARC proposed questionnaire. Observations revealed that only 79.7% of the teachers had heard about AIDS, newspapers being the main source of information. Awareness amongst graduate teachers was significantly higher than non-graduates. Many believed AIDS to be mosquito-borne and less than 2% knew that condom usage make sex safer. The study reveals the need to undertake intensive health education efforts as school teachers are an important source of health-related information for rural populations.