Survey of AIDS-related knowledge, attitude and practice and STD/HIV infection situation among street migrant laborers in Beihai city, Guangxi province

Objective To determine the AIDS-related knowledge, attitude and practice, as well as the infection situation of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, among street migrant laborers in Beihai, Guangxi.Methods Based on cluster random sampling, a total of 255 migrant laborers from thirteen locations on the street were surveyed in Beihai.Results The street migrant laborers had larger average age, lower education levels and greater proportion of married ones compared to the other migrant laborers, implicating an inferior overall quality.The awareness rate of AIDS-related knowledge was merely 41.57%; high proportion of people who had had commercial sexual activities in the past three months was noticed, with low condom use regardless of whether or not the sex activity was commercial.The syphilis positive rate was 1.18%, the AIDS antibody positive rate 0.39%.Conclusion Various risk factors of AIDS, including low quality and poor acceptability of new knowledge, were noticed among street migrant laborers.Therefore, specific approaches of intervention and strengthened control methods should be taken to effectively prevent the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases among this population.