A survey on the related knowledge level about AIDS among 5 kinds of populations in several areas of Shandong Province

Objective The survey was designed to learn the status of the knowledge level about AIDS among the 5 kinds of populations and assess the effect of health education implemented in the project, so as to adjust the content and methods of the following health education. Methods During September and October in the year of 2004, the 5 kinds of populations were surveyed through ques- tionnaires by the combined collecting method of cluster sampling, continuous sampling and conve- nience sampling in 6 counties of Shandong Province in the Global Fund project. The five kinds of populations included ordinary villagers, high school students, paid blood donors, STD clinic clients, and female sex workers. Results The overall awareness of AIDS related knowledge in the five pop- ulations were: 67.59% for ordinary villagers, 58.47% for high school students, 61.61% for paid blood donors, 69.83% for STD clinic clients and 59.34% for the female sex workers. Television was the main actual approach (72.60%) and the most preferred way (71.38%) to receive AIDS related knowl- edge. Conclusions The 5 kinds of populations had very poor knowledge about AIDS, and they had quite limited resources of AIDS related knowledge, so it is significant to make full use of all sorts of local media power and available public health services and develop various interesting and meaningful public educations on a large scale, so as to ensure that all the multitude can master enough knowledge of AIDS and have a better understanding of it, and prevent and control AIDS.